It usually takes years for a president to leave his mark on the economy. Donald Trump has done it in just a few weeks. His plan to raise tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China has rattled markets and boardrooms. Some businesses are seeing signs that deportations could affect their workforces. More than 40,000 federal employees are preparing to resign and others are rethinking their futures under pressure from Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency.
At the same time, President Trump’s pro-business, pro-fossil fuel agenda has excited many businesses who have made multibillion-dollar investment announcements.
The end goal seems to be an economy with a smaller role for imports, immigrants and the federal government and a bigger one for private investment. But the execution has generated intense uncertainty—among business owners, workers and trade partners—that could damp growth, at least temporarily.
