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This is an adapted excerpt from the March 11 episode of "All In with Chris Hayes."
On Tuesday, as the stock market continued to slide, President Donald Trump sat down with America’s top business executives. The president attended the quarterly meeting of the Business Roundtable, a Washington-based economic advocacy group comprised of more than 200 CEOs. The meeting came as Trump’s trade war continues to shake confidence in the U.S. economy.
The White House has tried to tamp down fears of an economic downturn. They’re telling people to calm down, claiming the market is just a snapshot in time. But what the American people need to understand is that the markets are not a snapshot in time, they’re a reflection of what investors expect future earnings to look like.
The president and his allies are trying to convince people not to believe what’s happening right in front of their eyes.
Just consider Amazon’s history. It’s now one of the most valuable companies in the world, but for years, its stock tumbled month after month. Still, people continued to buy it. You know why? They were betting that eventually things would turn around for Amazon — and they were right. So when the markets continue to tumble, it’s not because of a rough day. It’s because the investment community is looking at the actions the president is taking and thinking, “This is going to be bad for us in the future.”
But what surprised me most about Trump’s meeting with those top business leaders Tuesday is that no one asked the president anything about this. That’s not because these CEOs aren’t worried. I can assure you that based on my conversations with the business community, privately, they’re in a panic. They’re trying to follow Trump’s constant back-and-forth on tariffs. One day the tariffs are on, the next day they’re off. If you’re running any sort of business, whether big, medium or small, you need to understand the road ahead so you can figure out your map. Trump isn’t giving these leaders a clear map.
Instead, the president and his allies are trying to convince people not to believe what’s happening right in front of their eyes. They’re trying to spin it: If the stock market goes down, that’s a buying opportunity. If prices go up, that’s making America great. If the eggs cost too much at your local grocery store, build a chicken coop in your backyard.
What makes this all the more frustrating is that if the president had just kept his hands at 10 and 2 and kept driving Joe Biden’s economy, he would have been able to cruise to success. If the president had continued with business as usual, it would have been a win for him. Instead, he has everybody scratching their heads and asking, “What is he doing this for, and for whom?” Because it’s not for the American people, and it’s certainly not for American businesses.