American businesses are losing confidence in the US economy under Trump due to the tariff wars. CNBC’s CFO Council quarterly survey for Q1 2025 learned that America’s top CFOs are increasingly pessimistic about the economy due to these “disruptive” and “aggressive” tariff policies.
Around 60% of respondents believe the US will fall into a recession by the second half of this year, with 15% believing the recession will come in 2026. When this survey was conducted last quarter, prior to the tariff wars and trade volatility, only 7% of CFOs believed the nation was heading into a recession. This figure is a glimpse at how heavily trade uncertainty is destroying confidence.
How do corporations plan ahead when trade restrictions are subject to change at a moment’s notice? It’s simply not possible, and what happens is corporations will err on the side of caution and…
