Trump Tells Goldman Sachs to Fire its Economist for Showing that Trump's Tariffs Were Exacerbating Inflation

Aug 12, 2025

Many on Wall Street seem to be banking on the idea that even if Donald Trump wants to make himself into a political strongman, he will somehow leave them free to run their businesses with fewer restrictions. They are discovering their error the hard way.

CNN reports on one of these lessons:

Days after Goldman Sachs’ top economists published research claiming price increases stemming from higher tariffs are poised to soon be borne mostly by consumers, President Donald Trump is urging the bank’s CEO, David Solomon, to get a new economist.
“Tariffs have not caused Inflation, or any other problems for America, other than massive amounts of CASH pouring into our Treasury’s coffers,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Tuesday. “David Solomon and Goldman Sachs refuse to give credit where credit is due.”
“I think that David should go out and get himself a new Economist or, maybe, he ought to just focus on being a DJ, and not bother running a major Financial Institution,” Trump added. …
A report Goldman Sachs economists published over the weekend estimated Americans “absorbed 22% of tariff costs through June,” but that this share will rise to 67% by October if tariffs “follow the same pattern as the earliest ones.”…
On tariffs, Hatzius’ team’s forecasts share similarities with that of other leading financial institutions that are warning that consumers will experience tariff-related sticker shock.

This is just a criticism leveled by Trump on social media. But given the degree of power Trump wields over trade and regulation, and his demonstrated willingness to abuse it, this has be taken as a threat.

It is a clear indication that Trump will interfere in all aspects of the private economy, including meddling with their hiring decisions and trying to bend their own internal forecasts to suit his political needs.

The Executive Watch is a project of the Institute for the Study of Modern Authoritarianism, and its flagship publication The UnPopulist, to track in an ongoing way the abuses of the power of the American presidency. It sorts these abuses into five categories: Personal Grift, Political Corruption, Presidential Retribution, Power Consolidation, and Policy Illegality. Click the category of interest to get an overview of all the abuses under it.

Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and X.