Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said the “business community understands” what President Trump is “trying to do with tariffs” — though he added that executives are “always going to want lower tariffs everywhere.”
Solomon’s comments to Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo on Wednesday came just a week after he said that Trump is seeking to “level the playing field” by imposing levies on imports.
“I think the business community understands what the president is trying to do with… tariffs. The business community is always going to want lower tariffs everywhere… in the world,” he said in an exclusive interview on “Mornings with Maria.”
“At the moment, there is some uncertainty in the markets digesting that, but we’re going to have to watch and see how this all plays out.”
Solomon praised Trump for being “engaged with the business community” — drawing a contrast from his predecessor, Joe Biden.
“I like that President Trump is engaged with the business community. The Administration is engaged with the business community,” Solomon told Fox Business Network.
“That’s a different experience that we’ve had over the last four years. I would also observe the sense of optimism from the president in the engagement yesterday.”
Solomon, who has led the Wall Street investment banking powerhouse since 2018, spoke to Fox Business Network a day after he met with Trump as part of a CEO roundtable in Washington.
Trump, who addressed Solomon and other top executives amid ongoing uncertainty surrounding his administration’s trade policies, reiterated his commitment to tariffs, warning that additional duties could be imposed and existing rates might rise further.
This statement came just hours after he sought to ease concerns about an economic downturn, declaring that the US economy was poised to “boom.”
Solomon, who attended the meeting, emphasized that corporate leaders are looking for stability in economic policy to facilitate long-term planning and investment.
“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 said.
The bank boss said he had noticed increasingly cautious commentary from other business leaders in recent weeks, which he linked to a lack of clarity about the ultimate impact of Trump’s economic policies.
“How things stay in place, how far it goes … is some of the uncertainty that I’m talking about,” he said.
Despite the volatility of the markets, Solomon on Wednesday expressed optimism about the outlook for initial public offerings (IPOs), despite the current economic uncertainty.
“IPOs have been muted over the last couple of years,” Solomon said. “The pipeline is larger, and we expect an increase this year.”
However, he acknowledged that persistent uncertainty has sidelined some transactions, as businesses wait for clearer regulatory signals.
“There is potential, especially if we got more specific actions on the regulatory front, to unleash more animal spirits,” he stated, suggesting that a more definitive policy approach could stimulate economic activity.
Last week, Solomon told a conference in Australia that Trump is executing on a plan to “level the playing field” that he sees as unfair by imposing tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada, although the end result remains uncertain.
“The president firmly believes that there are imbalances with respect to how trade exists, and he has a strong point of view that he wants to level the playing field aggressively,” the Goldman Sachs chair told the Australian Financial Review Business Summit in Sydney last Tuesday.
“He’s executing on that view,” Solomon added.
Canada will announce $20 billion in retaliatory tariffs on the US on Wednesday in response to Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs, a Canadian official told Reuters.
Trump’s increased tariffs on steel and aluminum imports took effect on Wednesday as prior exemptions, duty free quotas and product exclusions expired — and as his campaign to reorder global trade norms in favor of the US gains momentum.
While investment banking activity has seen an uptick in recent months, data from Dealogic indicates that US mergers and acquisitions (M&A) remain sluggish.
In the first two months of 2025, only 1,603 deals had been finalized as of Friday, marking the slowest pace by volume since 2009.
Trump, during his meeting with CEOs of major US companies, defended his tariff strategy, despite concerns from business leaders about its economic impact.
Many of these executives have watched their companies’ market values decline amid fears of inflation and recession.
Trump, however, maintained that tariffs were a necessary tool in trade negotiations and suggested they could be expanded.
The Post has sought comment from the White House.
With Post Wires
