Pain of business in the shadow of Trump

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Little by little, one by one, they started going out.

After days of chaos in the market, American billionaires recently made something this week, a few senior presidents have been his work since Donald Trump took office in January: voting about the actions of the American president.

They said that Trump’s comprehensive tariff was a “major political error” that was born from “stupidity” that could raise “economic nuclear winter” and in some cases it reached value “prattle”.

Talk about the transformation of gear. Until this moment that tends to the market, companies across the United States have shown amazing levels of respect for the Trump business schedule.

It is difficult to say whether this will change after retreating from the customs tariff, but what is clear is how difficult it is to deal with the administration that is determined to raise the rules for sharing regular business.

First of all, there is simple jamming.

Last week, I spoke to NNEKA Chiazor, head of the Public Affairs Council in Washington, a non -party association for professionals in public affairs from some of the largest American companies.

It has just returned from meeting some of its members in Brussels, who were overcoming it with questions such as: “Are we still saying” green “? ; “Is” clean “still well?” ; “Will it be fine if we share with us at the New York Climate Week?”

“People are struggling with how to show the respect of the American administration,” she said while honoring their obligations towards customers and other stakeholders.

This conflict is more difficult when you see companies reserved to carry out the measures that they once defended are not in harmony with the Trump administration.

“Everyone seems to be completely hypocritical and does not last to go,” said Alison Taylor, a professor of New York University, author of the book, “Everyone seems to be completely hypocritical and does not last to go.” Top floor: How can business do the right thing in a troubled world. “This has an effect on making anything they say seems completely unreasonable, which I don’t think is very smart.”

Then there are financial risks.

The number of shoppers visiting the targeted stores has decreased for nine weeks in a row since it traded the retail seller to boycott customers with January A statement indicates It was retreating from the diversity initiatives that it promoted for a long time, and data appears from Placeer.ai Analytics.

On the contrary, Footfall continued in Costco, which has fought a suggestion for shareholders aimed at undermining diversity and inclusion initiatives.

The relationship is of course not causal. Many other factors can explain the difference.

Target, Tord’s Trust, and Termainable-a main scale of reputation-has decreased to a four-year minimum in the first quarter of this year, believes that Market Intelligence Caliber is believed. But the caliber surveys are based on showing that they continue in a declining direction that began years before the decline in Target diversity.

Also, caliber research In 10 large American companies including Target, Walmart and Apple indicate that most of them had no little or non -change in their confidence levels from the last quarter of 2024, regardless of whether they were dropped or defended diversity measures.

But the employee’s confidence is another issue.

Consider hundreds of colleagues from some of the world’s largest law firms Open message Condemning the administration’s targeting of the companies that oppose it.

Imagine how they felt when some of their companies crashed Millions One of the dollars in free services for adopted reasons from the administration-a step that seems to surprise even the president.

The companies say, “Where do I expect? Where do I expect?” Trump I was surprised In the White House last month. “Nobody can believe it.”

maybe. History suggests that companies are rarely at the forefront of political resistance, regardless of the high risk.

Dutch journalist David de Jong says he was in his research years in his book for 2022 Nazi billionairesOnly two examples of industrialists or companies challenge Nazi Germany. Robert Bush, founder of the name Group of Engineering and Technology, and Tecoon Fritz Thyssen.

Charles Hacker book 2024 Zero Another lesson on foreign companies that continued to do business in authoritarian Russia is increasingly.

In one example, a senior European CEO reveals the company’s headquarters to the company was “shaking their fingers” about Moscow illegal 2014 Crimea included, with its Russian offices urged sales next year.

The United States of 2025 is not Russia for the year 2014, not to mention the 1930s in Germany.

However, any American company bends to an unfamiliarly designed management to bring its opponents to the heel, follow a familiar path.

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