Opinion | When will US academia and business speak up against Trump?

Trump’s behaviour is no surprise. His economic policy ideas have always been wacky, and his hatred for elite academic institutions – which he views as the home of “woke” culture – is well-known. What is more shocking is that corporate and academic leaders have made barely a peep.

After Trump’s election victory last November, there was cautious optimism within business circles. He seemed to them like a welcome change after Joe Biden, who had talked tough against the private sector and supported organised labour and regulation. Trump, by contrast, promised low taxes and less regulation. His tariff talk was a problem, but most assumed that it was largely for show. The stock market blessed Trump’s election by soaring to new highs. Tech billionaires donated to his transition and bent the knee at his inauguration.

The intervening weeks have shown such optimism to have been deeply misguided. Trump has thrown one curveball after another at the economy, leading US stock markets to give up more than their gains since November. It’s hard to know which move has been worse: the steep tariffs imposed on America’s closest allies (Canada, Mexico and Europe), or the constant bluster, threats and whipsawing on trade policy, which have sent economic uncertainty indicators to levels higher than during the 2008 global financial crisis.

Making matters worse, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has wreaked havoc with the federal government, violating basic legal tenets and sacking more than 100,000 government workers. While there might be some cold-hearted logic to the cut-off of foreign aid, the administration also has inexplicably taken an axe to basic research in fields ranging from health and biological sciences to education.

It ought to be obvious to American business leaders that Trump is a clear and present danger to the system from which they generated their fortunes. As damaging as his erratic trade policies are, they pale in comparison to the threat he poses to the basic institutions that a thriving market economy needs: the rule of law, the separation of powers, government investment in science and innovation, public infrastructure and stable and friendly relationships with like-minded foreign countries.