President Donald Trump is opening what his team has dubbed “Day One” of his presidency by meeting with business leaders in the White House. Trump said Monday there will “be advantages” to companies that make their products in the United States and suggested he will impose a “substantial border tax” on foreign goods entering the country. The president also repeated a campaign promise to cut regulations “by 75 percent, maybe more.” Trump hosted the breakfast with about a dozen leaders in the Roosevelt Room. Among those in attendance were Kevin Plank of Under Armour, Elon Musk of Tesla, Marilyn Hewson of Lockheed Martin and Mario Longhi of US Steel. Trump suggested he wanted to hold these meetings quarterly.
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The duty of a president of any American company is to act in the best interests of the stockholders of the company. Whatever these folks suggest must be evaluated in light of that duty. It is unlikely that they would recommend any action that is contrary to the interests of their shareholders. Any company with substantial overseas revenue is probably concerned about tariffs imposed by the US, as their overseas customers’ governments can be expected to retaliate with their own tariffs.
And companies with overseas manufacturing facilities have already decided that they do not like the US labor market and would not, absent political or monetary pressure, bring jobs back to the US. I don’t know what, if anything, Trump expects to achieve by this meeting, but I am sure his first priority is praise from somebody.