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Billionaires, industry leaders, and execs urge Trump to rethink 'devastating' tariffs on Canada and Mexico

The aluminum industry is asking Donald Trump to make tariff exceptions for Canada.
Some business leaders are asking President Donald Trump to rethink tariffs.

Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images

  • Industry and business leaders are reacting to President Donald Trump's latest tariffs.
  • The Trump administration said Saturday it had imposed new levies on Canada, Mexico, and China.
  • All three countries vowed to retaliate, threatening a trade war.

Billionaires, industry leaders, and executives are reacting to President Donald Trump's tariffs against Canada, Mexico, and China.

The Trump administration said Saturday it had imposed a 25% tariff on goods from Canada and Mexico and a 10% tariff on China.

The announcement sparked swift responses from all three countries. Canada and Mexico promised retaliatory tariffs, and China vowed "corresponding countermeasures."

Trump says the tariffs are necessary to pressure Mexico, Canada, and China to do more to stem the flow of illegal fentanyl into the United States. Addiction and overdoses related to fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, have gripped the United States for years, hollowing out towns and city neighborhoods all over the country. The drug is often produced in China and smuggled over US borders.

"Trump is taking bold action to hold Mexico, Canada, and China accountable to their promises of halting illegal immigration and stopping poisonous fentanyl and other drugs from flowing into our country," the White House said in a statement on Saturday.

Business leaders, however, are urging Trump to reconsider, fearing a global trade war that could wreak havoc on American industries.

Mark Cuban, billionaire entrepreneur

In a post on Bluesky, Cuban warned that the new levies would cost people money and hurt businesses.

"I'm going to put my rich guy hat on and say I hope that Mexico and Canada issue equal, retaliatory tariffs and stick to them for an extended period," Cuban wrote.

"I apologize to all the people it will cost money and the businesses it will hurt. But it's the only way for tariffs to be seen for what they are."

Tobi Lütke, Shopify CEO

In a post on X, Lütke, the CEO of the Canadian firm Shopify, said he was disappointed with the US tariffs and Canada's government's response.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Saturday that Canada would impose 25% tariffs on C$155 billion (around $106 billion) of US goods following the Trump administration's decision.

But Lütke said hitting back would "not lead to anything good."

"Canada thrives when it works with America together. Win by helping America win," he wrote. "These tariffs are going to be devastating to so many people's lives and small businesses."

Ricardo Salinas Pliego, Mexican billionaire

Pliego, the chairman of the retail and banking conglomerate Grupo Elektra, slammed the tariffs in a series of posts on X but said Mexico should not retaliate.

"As things stand, there is nothing to do but endure this misfortune imposed on us," he wrote. "Perhaps, with the passage of time, more prepared and sensible minds will prevail in the USA and things will change, but that is not in our hands."

"What we definitely SHOULD NOT DO is play the 'Boy Hero' and throw ourselves into the void, by putting MORE taxes on Mexican citizens, who are already screwed by Trump's actions," he added.

Aluminum Association

The Aluminum Association has urged Trump to exempt Canada from the tariffs, saying it was vital to help protect jobs and local manufacturers.

In a statement on Saturday, Charles Johnson, the president and CEO of the association, which represents aluminum production and jobs in the United States, welcomed Trump's efforts to "support American manufacturing" but said the industry's strength relied on imports from the north.

"Thanks to robust domestic demand and coming investment, the US aluminum industry needs a steady and predictable supply of primary, secondary and scrap aluminum," Johnson said. "Today, much of that metal comes from North American trading partners, especially Canada."

United Steelworkers

The USW, representing 850,000 workers in metals, mining, and other industries, has also called for Trump to reconsider tariffs on Canada.

In a statement, USW International President David McCall said the union had "long called for systemic reform of our broken trade system, but lashing out at key allies like Canada is not the way forward."

"Canada has proven itself time and again to be one of our strongest partners when it comes to national security, and our economies are deeply integrated," the statement continued.

National Association of Manufacturers

NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons said manufacturers were already facing increasing cost pressures and that the latest tariffs on Canada and Mexico threatened "to upend the very supply chains that have made US manufacturing more competitive globally."

"The ripple effects will be severe, particularly for small and medium-sized manufacturers," Timmons added. "Ultimately, manufacturers will bear the brunt of these tariffs, undermining our ability to sell our products at a competitive price and putting American jobs at risk."

National Association of Home Builders

The NAHB said the tariffs on Canada and Mexico could increase construction costs and ultimately lead to higher home prices.

"More than 70% of the imports of two essential materials that home builders rely on—softwood lumber and gypsum (used for drywall)—come from Canada and Mexico, respectively," NAHB Chairman Carl Harris said in a statement.

"NAHB urges the administration to reconsider this action on tariffs."

National Retail Federation

David French, the executive vice president of government relations for the National Retail Federation, said in a statement the trade association backs Trump's push to solidify trade ties and ensure that the US has favorable trade conditions.

However, French called the tariffs on the three countries a "serious step."

"We strongly encourage all parties to continue negotiating to find solutions that will strengthen trade relationships and avoid shifting the costs of shared policy failures onto the backs of American families, workers and small businesses," he said in a statement.

"The retail industry is committed to working with President Trump and his administration to achieve his campaign promises, including strengthening the US economy, extending his successful Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and ensuring that American families are protected from higher costs," he added.

Distilled Spirits Council of the US, the Mexican Chamber of the Tequila Industry, and Spirits Canada

In a joint statement, the Distilled Spirits Council of the US, the Mexican Chamber of the Tequila Industry, and Spirits Canada, said the implementation of tariffs threatens the growth of trade in spirits across the three countries, a major issue given setbacks related to COVID-19 and inflation.

"Our associations are committed to working collaboratively with all stakeholders to explore solutions that prevent potential tariffs on distilled spirits," the groups said in their statement. "We are deeply concerned that US tariffs on imported spirits from Canada and Mexico will significantly harm all three countries and lead to a cycle of retaliatory tariffs that negatively impacts our shared industry."

"Maintaining fair and reciprocal duty-free access for all distilled spirits is crucial for supporting jobs and shared growth across North America," they added.

American Automotive Policy Council

Matt Blunt, former governor of Missouri and president of the American Automotive Policy Council, which represents Ford Motor, General Motors, and Stellantis, told BI that he doesn't believe that vehicles and parts that meet the USMCA's requirements — agreed upon by the US, Canada, and Mexico in 2020 — should be subject to increased tariffs.

"Our American automakers, who invested billions in the US to meet these requirements, should not have their competitiveness undermined by tariffs that will raise the cost of building vehicles in the United States and stymie investment in the American workforce," Blunt said.

Canadian Chamber of Commerce

Candace Laing, president and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, representing more than 200,000 businesses, called Trump's tariffs "self-defeating" and "profoundly disturbing" in a statement.

"Our supply chains are so deeply integrated that you can't unwind them overnight," wrote Laing, "Which is why if President Trump truly wanted to bring down costs for Americans, he would be looking at strengthening our trade ties, not tearing them apart."

Laing recounted how the US relies on Canadian imports, such as crude oil and critical minerals, and said that Canada's "job number one" right now is to build resilience and provide security to Canadian families and businesses that are "rightly scared" by the tariffs.

"If we can't trade south, let's diversify our trading partners and dismantle unnecessary internal trade barriers to keep goods and services flowing north, east, and west," she added, "A strong, united, and competitive Canadian economy will thrive no matter what gets thrown our way."

American Petroleum Institute

Mike Sommers, president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, with some 600 members that produce and distribute the majority of the nation's energy, called energy markets "highly integrated" and Canadian crude oil "critical" for American consumers in a statement.

"The US is the largest market for Canadian crude oil exports and Mexico is the No. 1 destination for US refined product exports," said Sommers, "We will continue to work with the Trump administration on full exclusions that protect energy affordability for consumers, expand the nation's energy advantage and support American jobs."

United Auto Workers Union

Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers Union, said in a statement on Saturday that his union "supports aggressive tariff action to protect American manufacturing jobs as a good first step to undoing decades of anti-worker trade policy."

According to the UAW website, the union has over 400,000 active members and more than 580,000 retired members in the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico.

"If Trump is serious about bringing back good blue collar jobs destroyed by NAFTA, the USMCA, and the WTO, he should go a step further and immediately seek to renegotiate our broken trade deals," Fain added.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Meta is cutting jobs after saying it would target 'low performers.' That label can make things worse for those being laid off.

Collage showing workers' fear of recession, layoffs
Microsoft and Meta said they plan to cut jobs, targeting "low performers."

Getty Images; Jenny Chang-Rodriguez/BI

  • Meta has begun laying people off, after saying it would cut jobs by targeting "low performers."
  • Microsoft also made performance-related cuts in January.
  • Layoffs can be traumatic for workers, and the added tag of "low performer" can make it worse.

"Low performers" are in the firing line.

Meta began laying people off Monday after saying it would target its lowest performers. Microsoft also sent termination letters last month, telling people their performance had "not met minimum performance standards."

Both companies' announcements in January about the layoffs triggered an online debate. Targeting the lowest performers may be logical for the companies' bottom lines, but the publicity surrounding layoffs can give those a negative label that can compound the difficulties of being laid off.

After Meta's January announcement about laying off "low performers," Jan Tegze, a Czech Republic-based tech recruiter, wrote in a post on LinkedIn that "a low performer' at Meta could be a rockstar anywhere else."

But now, these "people have to job hunt with this label hanging over them. Every recruiter, every hiring manager will see these headlines," he added.

Jennifer Dulski, the founder and CEO of Rising Team and a management lecturer at Stanford Graduate School of Business, said on LinkedIn that it was "reasonable to let people go for lower performance than others on the team, and to share that reasoning with them."

"However, publicly branding employees as low performers serves no one — not the individuals, not the remaining team, and not the company's reputation," she added.

"That will stick with and damage many people's careers. It's unnecessary and punitive," Jonathan Shottan, chief product and content officer at Tonal, said.

Previous research has suggested that finding a job may be more difficult for laid-off workers due to the stigma they may encounter among potential employers.

And with job seekers also facing a slowing job market and new hurdles such as the ever-expanding rollout of AI in workplaces, the added "low performer" tag may make the job search even trickier.

Others defended Meta and Microsoft's announcements, however.

"Who would you fire? Your top performers?" One LinkedIn user wrote in response to Tegze's post. "There isn't a company in the world who would let go of anyone that they didn't think was their lowest performers."

"What if.... they 'are' actually low performers," another said. "Stop jumping on the let's bash Zuk bandwagon," an apparent reference to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who announced the layoffs in an internal memo sent on January 14 and seen by Business Insider.

He told employees that he had "decided to raise the bar on performance management" and act quickly to "move out low-performers."

The memo said the cuts would affect 5% of the company's workforce, equivalent to about 3,600 roles.

Ethan Evans, a former Amazon vice president, had some tips for those caught in the layoffs to help ensure they give themselves the best chance of getting back to work.

Writing on X the day after Meta's announcement, he advised those hit by cuts targeting low performers to carefully and openly explain their situation to hiring managers.

Evans said it can be natural for recruiters to wonder if an interviewee has performance problems that they should avoid and that "your ability to respond calmly and confidently will matter just as much as the actual content of your answer."

"If your entire team or division was cut, this is the strongest story. Be clear about that and say, 'My entire team was cut.' Point them to a news story that verifies your claim if you can," he said.

He added: "Never badmouth your old boss or company."

"Just like dating, no one wants to start a relationship with someone who isn't over their ex."

Business Insider contacted Meta and Microsoft for comment.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Why the Syrian conflict is so important for Russia and Iran

Image of an anti-government fighter tearing down a portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Aleppo.

MOHAMMED AL-RIFAI/AFP via Getty Images

  • Russia carried out airstrikes in Syria after rebels launched an offensive against the Syrian government.
  • Russia and Iran have supported Syrian President Bashar Assad for years.
  • Here's why Syria is so important for both Moscow and Tehran.

Russia has been carrying out airstrikes on Syrian rebel fighters who are advancing through the country as part of an offensive that has seen them seize control of Aleppo, one of Syria's largest cities.

The surprise offensive, led by Islamist militants from the opposition group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, marks the most significant escalation in the Syrian civil war in years — and the outcome has serious implications for both Russia and Iran.

Russia's gateway to the Mediterranean

Syria holds strategic importance for Moscow and Tehran, which have both supported Syrian President Bashar Assad's embattled regime.

For Russia, which operates two major military bases in the country — the Hmeimim airbase and the Tartus naval base — Syria offers a key foothold in the region, giving its forces crucial access to the Mediterranean Sea and a launching pad for operations in Africa.

Russia has sought to extend its influence across the Middle East and Africa in recent years as a counterweight to the US, forging closer ties with key Middle Eastern players like Iran and Saudi Arabia and reportedly providing African governments with security assistance through the Wagner mercenary group.

Natasha Hall, a senior fellow with the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Business Insider that Russian President Vladimir Putin cannot afford to lose a Russia-friendly government in Syria for fear of losing the airbase and warm water port crucial to maintaining its influence in the region.

"It's used that port and the base as a launching pad to move into Africa," Hall said. "At one point, there were at least 30 Russian warships in the Mediterranean, whereas just a few years prior, there were none."

Zineb Riboua, a research fellow and program manager at the Hudson Institute's Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East, said losing Syria would be "a big deal for Russia."

"Most of its plans in the Sahel and Libya revolve around supporting Russia's access to the Mediterranean, without a strong Russian military base in Syria, all of Putin's plans collapse," Riboua wrote on X.

Putin's support for Assad helped boost his popularity in Africa, Riboua continued, adding that losing Syria would "make Putin not just look weak, but look unreliable to many African countries that rely today on Wagner."

Iran's network of proxies

Syria also provides Iran with access to the Mediterranean via a land corridor that extends from Tehran through to Baghdad, Damascus, and Beirut, connecting its proxies in the region.

"For Iran, Syria is absolutely essential in order to maintain its proxy network," Hall said. "It now has this unimpeded route from Tehran all the way to Lebanon."

Syria is particularly important for Iran's ability to support the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which for over a year has been embroiled in conflict with Israel. Israel has recently thrown this top Iranian ally into disarray, killing its longtime leader and wounding thousands of its fighters with exploding pagers and walkie-talkies. A cease-fire agreement was reached between Israel and Hezbollah last week.

"Iran is deeply invested in Syria with dozens of military bases and other facilities because the country is critical to Tehran's support for Hezbollah," wrote Steven Cook, the Eni Enrico Mattei senior fellow for Middle East and Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations think tank.

Syria provides Tehran with a place to manufacture weapons and a route to transport them, as well as a command post for Iranian commanders who work with Hezbollah, Cook said.

But Israeli strikes on the militant group have impacted Iran's corridor and put its position in the region under pressure.

Tehran may, therefore, see the Syrian conflict as a way to reimpose itself in the region, Riboua said in another post on X.

"Weakened in Lebanon and Gaza, Iran now views the conflict in Syria as an opportunity to reassert its influence by joining the Assad regime against its opposition," Riboua said. "Tehran likely sees this renewed involvement as a chance to restore its legitimacy and strengthen its control over its proxies."

Latest conflict is 'no surprise'

Russian ties with Syria trace back to the Cold War-era when Moscow supplied arms to the country.

The two countries grew closer under the leadership of Putin and Assad, as the former sought to expand and defend Russian interests in the Middle East.

In 2015, this resulted in Russia directly intervening in the country's civil war, which began in 2011, to prop up Assad.

Over the following years, Moscow steadily built up its military presence in Syria, and by 2018, the Russian Ministry of Defense said that more than 63,000 Russian troops had "received combat experience" in the country.

But following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Moscow's Syrian operations were put on the back burner, and it reportedly redeployed some troops, mercenaries, and military equipment from Syria to Ukraine.

Iran and Syria, meanwhile, have had strong relations since the 1979 Iranian revolution.

Iranian troops are also reported to have fought alongside Syrian government forces in 2015.

But like Russia, Iran's priorities have shifted in recent months, with Tehran locked with Israel in a series of escalating long-range strikes.

For the US, that meant the latest offensive seemingly came as no great shock.

Speaking to NBC News, national security advisor Jake Sullivan said that Assad's three key backers, Iran, Russia, and Hezbollah, had all "been distracted and weakened by conflicts elsewhere."

"So it's no surprise that you see actors in Syria, including the rebels, try to take advantage of that," he added.

For Russia and Iran, the fall of Aleppo will nevertheless come as a humiliating blow, Hall said.

It shows "how weak their ally is, even after 13 years of war," she added.

Read the original article on Business Insider

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