Wall Street CEOs staying silent on Trump is no longer an option |
This week the Trump administration threatened a two-front war, with one against America’s allies and another against its own central bank.
The White House’s threats to use force to seize Greenland from Denmark and the launch of a Justice Department criminal investigation into Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell are profound and needless assaults on two of the most important pillars of American power and prosperity – NATO and central bank independence.
The response from corporate America? Deafening silence.
US President Donald Trump speaks with Ford boss Bill Ford (left) during a factory tour on January 13. Trump’s threats to seize Greenland could expose major US businesses to economic retaliation from other NATO allies.Credit: AP
The stakes are almost impossible to overstate. For starters, using force against the territory of a NATO ally is likely to make massive economic retaliation by the rest of the alliance against the US inevitable. That could range from expelling American military forces from Europe to dumping European holdings of US Treasuries to barring American companies – particularly those seen as close to the administration – from European markets.
Meanwhile, turning the Fed into a tool of presidential politics would expose the US economy to the kind of inflationary pressures that have crippled countries such as Turkey and Venezuela.
These moves are not – unlike tariffs, the massive cuts to scientific research, or the daily turmoil surrounding the White House – something that can simply be absorbed as a cost of doing business and offset against tax cuts. The chaos is no longer just hanging over the........