STEEL TRAP
61
FORTUNE.COM // DECEMBER 2019
Business, began to slump substantially a year ago. Hundreds of
industry associations, from the tiny American Down and Feather
Council to the huge National Retail Federation and the U.S. Cham-
ber of Commerce, are publicly opposing his policies on trade, im-
migration, or both. The fear among many businesspeople is that,
after a strong start, he’s now doing more harm than good and has
no significant policy levers left to pull.
How did it come to this? Interviews with businesspeople,
economists, policymakers, lobbyists, and advisers, Republicans
and Democrats, allies and enemies, reveal near unanimity on how
Trump has helped and hindered U.S. business. What comes next,
as always in the Trump era, is harder to say.
Trump’s biggest blessings for business were front-loaded. “The U.S.
Today, shares of all
America’s major
steelmakers are
trading below where
they were before
Trump’s election.
Workers witness Trump ordering tariffs on steel and aluminum imports at the White House, March 2018.
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