During the 2016 presidential campaign, President Donald Trump made it known that one of the main differences between himself and Hillary Clinton was that he had business experience. Now that he has been elected as the 45th president of the United States, business leaders around the world are appalled by Trump’s political skills.
At the annual Yale CEO Summit, a remarkable 50% of the CEOS, government officials, academics, and business executives that were canvassed gave Trump an “F” for his first 130 days in office.
The results of the survey were released to the public on the week of June 12. Additionally, there was another 21% that gave Trump a “D” and only 1% of the 125 business leaders surveyed gave the businessman turned politician an “A”.
According to Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, the man that led the summit and a Yale School of Management professor, the consensus between CEOs was that President Trump needs to “stop the random 3 a.m tweets and stop the needless brushfires diverting from the agenda.”
It’s important to note that 80% of those polled were CEOs. Some even have a connection to the Trump administration, such as Steve Schwarzman, the CEO of Blackstone (NYSE:$BX), and Ginni Rometty, the boss of IMB (NYSE:$IBM), who both are members of Trump’s advisory group. Ken Frazier, the CEO of Merck (NYSE:$MRK) was also surveyed and he is currently a member of President Trump’s manufacturing initiative.
Sonnenfeld stated, “This was not a granola-eating crowd of Democrat entrepreneurs. It’s a cross-section of the business community, including some who are quite pro-Trump.”
The survey conducted at the Yale CEO Summit is a clear indication that there are sections of the business community that are starting to become embittered with Trump. This is because the Trump administration is finding it hard to put into action its economic timetable amongst scandal and slipups.
On June 1, Trump withdrew the United States from the Paris Agreement as it was supposedly bad for American business. This outraged a number of CEOs, including Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:$TSLA), and Robert Iger, the CEO of Disney, who both left their positions on Trump’s advisory council. Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase boss, and Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs (NYSE:$GS) also publicly slammed Trump’s decision to leave the accord. Blankfein suggested that this was a major “setback” for United States leadership in the world.
Now it’s obvious that some of the most important CEOs in the world agree with that statement. Roughly two-thirds of those surveyed made it known that the decision to pull the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement, which is one of the most important issues in the 21st century, has ebbed the United States’s global standing. Additionally, there was another 86% who articulated concerns about Trump downplaying Russian security misconduct.
Along with being unhappy with Trump’s political skills, the business leaders of the 21st century expressed concerns with Trump’s budget. According to the survey results, three-fourths of those polled declared that the Trump administration’s budget proposal was not logical.
With Trump’s vows that he will increase infrastructure spending, cut regulation, and slash taxes, investors are thrilled. The Dow has grown nearly 3,000 points since Trump was elected and it reached another record on June 14.
Still, the president’s economic timeline has been put to a halt as a result of opposition from Democrats and Republican disagreement. Respectively, Wall Street has reduced its predictions for both the timing and size of the tax reform that Trump had vowed.
The CEOs at the summit definitely do not consider this to be a hole in one. Forty-two percent of the business leaders polled believe that Trump will pass corporate tax reform.
Deutsche Asset Management’s chief investment strategist, David Bianco, advised the public that there will be a significant impact on stocks soon caused by the political trouble.
In his report, Bianco stated that the Trump assembly is “vulnerable to summer fatigue and rising anxiety over whether Congress can make pragmatic decisions.” He noted that clients need to be cautious when shifting money from bonds to stocks. “We think (the rally) has reached its near-term limits.”
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