Trade tensions, immigration issues, rising interest rates. These are just a few of the troubling headlines in the news these days weighing on investors and business leaders. Mark Weinberger talks about these topics daily with his clients, CEOs of American and international companies, doing business in 150 countries around the globe. He is the Global Chairman and CEO of EY, one of the biggest accounting firms in the world.
Speaking with Fortune, he says, “businesses are confident about the future”, but they are trying to figure out how much trade disputes will escalate between the U.S. and China. “If it turns into a tit for tat and we have a trade war, that is going to be very difficult for growth,” Weinberger explains, “because you need global trade to have global growth.” But says he’s “hopeful” that China and the United States will recognize that a “trade war doesn’t benefit anyone.”
Weinberger, who served on one of the now-disbanded councils of CEOs advising President Trump on economic issues, still offers up some advice for the President.
“You’ve been a great disruptor, you’ve challenged the status quo, you’ve put a lot of great things in progress in a short period of time. It’s now time to pivot from disruption and work with Congress and with other countries to get things resolved and to work together to get them done because that’ll make them sustainable,” he says. “And tweeting doesn’t help.”
Watch the video above for more from our interview with Weinberger.