'CEO whisperer' says US business leaders are privately anxious about democracy and state of economy under Trump

Source: The Independent

‘CEO whisperer’ says US business leaders are privately anxious about democracy and state of economy under Trump

Famed Yale business guru Jeffrey Sonnenfeld said America’s top tycoons are freaked out by Trump’s ‘Maoist’ MAGA movement — despite some executives’ ‘Dear Leader’ praise in public

Io Dodds
in San Francisco
Tuesday 23 September 2025 03:00 BST

The captains of American industry are privately worried that Donald Trump's "chaotic" leadership and his "Maoist" MAGA movement are hurting the U.S. economy, according to a business professor renowned as the "CEO whisperer".

In an op-ed for Fortune magazine on Sunday, Yale don Jefferey Sonnenfeld — known for his extensive contacts and regular closed-door summits with corporate bosses — said that CEOs at his latest get-together were "near unanimous" that Trump's policies are damaging their bottom line.

Two thirds of the hundred-plus CEOs surveyed said that Trump's tariffs had hurt their businesses, the article reported, with business leaders worried about his "hollowing out" of institutions and his repeated attempts to pressure the Federal Reserve.

"This widespread sentiment is directly counter to the heavily trumpeted 'Dear Leader' tributes of just a handful of tech titans, who are decidedly not representative of the leadership class," wrote Sonnenfeld and his co-author Stephen Henriques (another Yale business expert).

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Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-tariffs-economy-business-leaders-b2831674.html

Alternate link: https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/ceo-whisperer-says-us-business-020039090.html