President Donald Trump spoke Tuesday with top CEOs, many of whom have seen the value of their companies slashed as Trump’s tariff-heavy economic policy has raised uncertainty and fueled a market sell-off.
Trump, a major proponent of tariffs, told the room full of business leaders in Washington, D.C., that the duties he has already imposed are having a “tremendously positive impact.”
His remarks came at the start of the quarterly meeting of the Business Roundtable, a nonpartisan Washington-based economic advocacy group comprising more than 200 CEOs.
Apple CEO Tim Cook, JPMorgan Chase boss Jamie Dimon, GM chief Mary Barra and Walmart CEO Doug McMillon are all BRT board members.
The meeting came as financial markets continued their downward slide on Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost as much as 700 points before ending the trading day down 478 points, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq also closed lower.
Much of Wall Street’s uncertainty has centered on Trump’s on-again, off-again tariffs on Canada and Mexico. But Trump has brushed off calls for clarity from the business community, as well as fears that his expanding tariff plans risk stoking an out-of-control trade war.
On Tuesday morning, Trump suddenly ratcheted up his tariffs again. After Ontario vowed to respond to Trump’s provocations by raising taxes on its electricity exports to the U.S., Trump vowed to promptly double his tariffs on Canadian aluminum and steel imports.
Later in the day, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he had decided to pause his energy surcharge plan, amid discussions with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. The Trump administration later said it would not raise the tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum to 50%, as Trump had threatened to do earlier in the day.
Meanwhile, China’s retaliatory tariffs on many U.S. agricultural products took effect Monday, and leaders around the world are bracing for the broad “reciprocal tariffs” that Trump has vowed to impose starting April 2.
Asked in an interview that aired Sunday if he could rule out the possibility of a recession this year, Trump replied, “I hate to predict things like that.”
The White House has thus far sought to downplay the market sell-off, arguing that it is more “meaningful” to follow business leaders’ actions instead of short-term stock fluctuations.
Those day-to-day fluctuations “are a snapshot of a moment in time,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday.
She maintained that business optimism was high, and added, “We are in a period of economic transition.”
The Business Roundtable has previously expressed hope that Trump will secure deals that avoid tariffs with Canada and Mexico, warning that long-lasting duties could have “serious costs for American families, farmers and manufacturing.”
