Trump tariffs, corporations cower
During the Biden administration, corporate executives regularly expressed their displeasure with policies they opposed. Amazon chairman Jeff Bezos, for example, blasted the Biden administration in May 2022 for excessive stimulus spending, which he blamed for inflation. "In fact, the administration tried hard to inject even more stimulus into an already over-heated, inflationary economy," Bezos wrote on X. "[O]nly Manchin saved them from themselves."
Bezos went on to call inflation a "regressive tax that hurts the less affluent." He also criticized Biden's suggestion to raise corporate taxes as "misdirection."
In September 2022, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon criticized the Biden administration's policy to forgive student loan debt. Dimon called the loan forgiveness policy "badly done," adding, "I wish they had targeted the people who actually needed help." In an April 2023 interview with The Economist, Dimon criticized Biden's American Rescue Plan, the administration's economic response to the pandemic, as excessive, saying it was "causing inflation."
In September 2024, Johnson & Johnson CEO Joaquin Duato described the Biden administration's plan to negotiate prescription drug prices for Medicare as "misguided." Duato said forcing pharmaceutical companies to negotiate lower prices would "chill innovation" and cause fewer new medicines to be developed.
In January 2025, the Biden administration announced a policy limiting exports of high-powered chips used to power AI models. NVIDIA, the main producer of such chips, harshly criticized the move.
In the statement, NVIDIA said the new Biden administration rule "threatens to derail innovation and economic growth worldwide." On LinkedIn, the company added that the rule would "harm the U.S. economy, set America back, and play into the hands of U.S. adversaries."
On Wednesday afternoon, President Trump announced he was imposing punitive tariffs against nearly every nation on earth — including a 46% tariff on goods imported from Vietnam, 34% tariff on goods from China, 24% on goods from Japan, and 20% on goods from the European Union. The average tariff rate will increase "from 2.5% in 2024 to around 22.5%." The new tariffs, the largest tax increase in over 50 years, have quickly turned the economic outlook from sustained growth to recession.
In just two days, publicly traded companies lost "$6.6 trillion in market value." Amazon's value declined by $265 billion. JPMorgan Chase hemorrhaged $104 billion of its market cap. Johnson & Johnson (-$5.4 billion) and NVIDIA (-$40 billion) also experienced declines, even though pharmaceuticals and computer chips were exempt from the tariffs.
How did Corporate America respond to Trump's tariffs? Popular Information contacted the 100 largest American companies by market capitalization. We asked a simple question: Do you support or oppose the tariffs Trump announced on Wednesday?
Answering this basic question did not require the companies to condemn Trump or his economic policies, as corporate leaders did under the Biden administration. It simply asked the company to express a position on a policy that, in almost all cases, has already destroyed a significant amount of shareholder value.
And yet, no company was willing to respond. Microsoft said it had "nothing to share." NVIDIA "decline[d] to comment." Citi “decline[d] to comment.” Eli Lilly and Gilead referred us "to PhARMA for industry perspective." The rest of the companies did not respond at all.
What is going on?
According to a report in Politico, corporations fear that even mild opposition to the tariffs will make them a target for retribution from the Trump administration. “There is zero incentive for any company or brand to be remotely critical of this administration,” an anonymous "public affairs operative" said. “It destroys your ability to work with the White House and advance your policies, period.” Another person who works in the energy industry said that "no one wants to be first out of the box saying anything negative about Trump’s decision-making. An industry trade group said corporations believe "the administration is keeping a list, and no one on K Street wants to be on it."
Corporate America is unwilling even to issue statements opposing Trump's tariffs, but a more aggressive response may be warranted. There is a real question about whether the tariffs imposed by Trump are legal.
Setting tariffs is generally done by Congress, but Trump has invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose them unilaterally. In its 50-year history, the IEEPA has never been used before to impose tariffs. The law allows the president to impose sanctions on foreign entities during a national emergency. But there is a real legal question on whether that power allows the president to impose tariffs on American companies that import goods, as Trump is doing. Further, it's unclear that a "large and persistent trade deficit" is an actual emergency that would allow Trump to invoke emergency powers.
Yet, no major corporation or trade association has filed suit contesting the tariffs. The only lawsuit that has been filed was done so by Simplified, a small stationary company based in Florida, which is being represented by a conservative non-profit.
A government where people are afraid to criticize the policies of its leaders, fearing retribution, is not characteristic of a democracy. The right "to petition the Government for a redress of grievances" is enshrined in the Constitution. And the law is supposed to provide a check against any leader using government power for vengeance. The willingness of corporate leaders to criticize the Biden administration was a positive sign for American democracy.
The silence of corporations in response to Trump's ruinous tariffs is evidence that the country is sliding toward autocracy. There is a widespread belief that government power will be used to punish critics. And there is skepticism that the laws restraining such abuses of power, including the Constitution, will be enforced.
It should be obvious to anyone paying attention that King Trump considers tariffs his bargaining chip not against other nations but against America itself. He is neither patriot nor businessman. He is neither isolationist nor protectionist. There is no ideology behind any of this chaos and corruption. Trump reasoning is much simpler than that- he is a malignant narcissist. American companies must now keep their mouths shut and bend a knee to ask for relief from the tariff tax, thereby pleasing the king. The petulant king repeatedly told us his main objective for being elected- to seek revenge and cause harm to any and all who have wronged him- and the three ways he would do it- impose tariffs, deport mass populations and ignore the constitution and the rule of law.
And, here we are.
IMO, most big corp entities are our enemies in the fight for democracy. They are more likely than not to aid and abet a trump dictatorship. They are largely run by unprincipled entitled white men who got where they are by sucking up to the right people at the right time. They know who they have to bow to and who they can piss on. They are comfortable in trump’s world and will sell us and democracy out to save themselves and their personal fiefdoms.