Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said the business community “understands” that President Trump is trying to do it with taxation on various goods despite wanting “low tariffs everywhere.”
Solomon also said in an interview with Fox Business's Maria Bartilomo that Trump is more “engaged” with the business world than his White House predecessor, former President Biden.
“I think the business community understands what the president is trying to do with tariffs. Nowadays, the business community is always looking for lower tariffs anywhere in the world,” Solomon said. “At this point, there's some uncertainty. The market is digesting it, but we have to see and see how this works.”
On Wednesday, the president's tariffs on steel and aluminum came into effect. The European Union has responded with its own tariff set, covering approximately $28 billion in imports, scheduled to take place next month.
Trump's mutual tariffs are scheduled to begin on April 2nd.
Solomon said his level of activity in terms of mergers, acquisitions and IPOs in his Fox business is “slightly superior” than in the past two years, but he said “there is still a huge amount of demand for Maria in both capital market activities and M&A activities.”
Despite saying he understands Trump's trade approach with tariffs, the president argued that the country is unfairly exploiting the US economy, but that Washington's top trading partners (China, Mexico and Canada) have not done enough to curb fentanyl coming across the border, Solomon said he wanted executives to ensure more policies from commanders.
“At this point, the level of uncertainty is a little high, and it keeps a few things on the sidelines.
Solomon also said that headwinds from recent tariffs have affected the trade.
“As we move forward, the more we become more certain we are on our policy agenda, the more we can support capital investment and growth,” he said.
