Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said that the business community “understands” what President Trump is trying to do with levies on various goods, even though they want “lower tariffs everywhere.”
Solomon also said during an interview with Fox Business’s Maria Bartiromo that Trump is more “engaged” with the business community than his White House predecessor, former President Biden.
“I think the business community understands what the president is trying to do with tariffs. Now, the business community is always going to want lower tariffs everywhere, everywhere in the world,” Solomon said. “At the moment, there is some uncertainty. The market is digesting that, but we’re going to have to watch and see how this all plays out.”
On Wednesday, the president’s 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum coming into the country took effect. The European Union (EU) responded with its own set of tariffs covering around $28 billion in imports that are set to take place next month.
Trump’s reciprocal tariffs are set to kick in on April 2.
Solomon said on Fox Business that activity levels, regarding mergers and acquisitions and initial public offerings, are “slightly better” than they were in the past two years, but “there is still an enormous amount of pent-up demand, Maria, both for capital markets activity and [merger and acquisition] activity.”
Despite saying he understands Trump’s trade approach with tariffs, with the president arguing that countries are unfairly exploiting the U.S. economy while Washington’s top trading partners — China, Mexico and Canada — have not done enough to curb fentanyl coming over the border, Solomon argued that executives still want more policy certainty from the commander in chief.
“I would say, at this moment, the level of uncertainty is a little bit higher and that has kept some things on the sidelines, some possible transactions on the sideline, but the overall level of dialogue, as people are thinking strategically about where they want to drive their businesses, is certainly increasing,” Solomon said.
Solomon also said the headwinds from the recent tariffs are affecting dealmaking.
“The more we can have certainty on the policy agenda as we move forward, the better that’s going to support capital investment and growth,” he stated.