WASHINGTON: U.S. President Donald Trump defended his tariff policies on Tuesday as he met the CEOs of America’s biggest companies, including many whose market value has dipped in recent days as recession and inflation fears soured consumer and investor sentiment.
The Republican president spoke to about 100 CEOs at a regular meeting of the Business Roundtable in Washington, an influential group of CEOs leading major U.S. companies, which include Apple, JPMorgan Chase and Walmart . Trump met with technology company executives at the White House on Monday.
Trump said his increased tariffs on many imports, which have rattled global markets and prompted stock selloffs, will have a tremendously positive impact over time.
“The tariffs are going to be throwing off a lot of money for this country” and entice companies abroad to build plants in the United States, he said.
Trump’s economic policies so far have centered on a blitz of tariff announcements. Some of the levies have taken effect and others have been delayed or are set to kick in later. He said they will correct unbalanced trade relations, bring jobs back to the country and stop the flow of illegal narcotics from abroad.
He ramped up a burgeoning trade war with Canada, vowing to double tariffs set to take effect within hours on all imported steel and aluminum products from America’s northern neighbor to 50%. The White House said later the tariff would remain at 25% after Canadian officials agreed to talks.
Markets have been spooked by the prospect that tariffs could raise prices for businesses, boosting inflation, and undermine consumer confidence in a blow to economic growth.
U.S. stocks on Tuesday extended last week’s selloff that has dragged the benchmark S&P 500 down 3.6% since Trump’s election in November last year and 5.3% so far in 2025.
“Markets are going to go up and they’re going to go down, but you know what? We have to rebuild our country,“ Trump told reporters earlier. “Some people are going to make great deals by buying stocks and bonds and all the things they’re buying.”
Investors fear that Trump’s trade policies could trigger an economic slowdown. Meanwhile, a survey of American households showed consumers growing more pessimistic about their prospects.
Trump had already imposed an additional 20% tariff on Chinese goods entering the United States, and 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, although he suspended most of the duties on U.S. neighbors until April 2, when he plans to unveil a global regime of reciprocal tariffs on all trading partners.
Trump said last month the policies could cause “short-term, some little pain” before delivering long-run benefits. In a Fox News interview aired over the weekend, he declined to predict whether his economic policies would cause a recession. “I don’t see it at all,“ Trump said on Tuesday regarding a recession.
Until recently, investors have been optimistic that Trump’s policies would tip toward stimulating more growth, for instance through lower taxes, or easing inflationary pressures, for instance by loosening regulation on fossil fuel production.
But tax cuts need congressional approval. And some economists see plans to increase deportations of undocumented immigrants increasing price pressures in the labor market, while cutting the federal workforce could raise unemployment.
“I think if we all are becoming a little more nationalistic - and I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, you know, it does resonate with me - that it’s going to have elevated inflation,“ said BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, a Business Roundtable member, at an industry conference on Monday.
Economists at Goldman Sachs Group have cut their 2025 U.S. growth forecast and raised their inflation forecast, “both on the back of more adverse tariff assumptions.” The forecast remains positive for the year.
Last week, the business advocacy group called for making the Trump tax cuts permanent and pushing forward with regulatory reform in the energy, infrastructure and manufacturing sectors, areas of broad alignment with the Trump administration.
But the group also urged “negotiators to redouble efforts to secure a path forward that swiftly removes the recently implemented tariffs. These tariffs, especially if they are long-lasting, run the risk of creating serious economic impact.”
The group said the White House and Congress should preserve the benefits of the North American free trade deal with Mexico and Canada signed during Trump’s first term.
