Name: Ecolab's CEO Isn't Worried About Trump's Stance on Climate Change
Uploaded: 2020-01-02
Duration: 3 min 42 s
Description: Douglas Baker says his company will have to “adjust.”

 Doug, President-elect Donald Trump says he's America's first business president. What do you think he's going to do for business? Trump's clearly going to change policies. And with change is going to come, I think, a change in outcome. And I think, with the right moves, that outcome could be positive. But when you're making these changes, there's unintended consequences if you're not thoughtful about it. But that's why he's got a team. Well, as you know, Trump campaigned on saying that he was going to get the US economy to grow by 4%, maybe 5%. Certainly, the markets are confident that the country's going in the right direction. But do you think that President-elect Trump can really trigger that kind of growth? Well. I'm not betting that the US is going to be growing 4% to 5% in the near term. But I do have a lot of confidence in the US. I had confidence before the election, and I remain confident, simply because I think we have a lot of assets as a country. And I'm very hopeful that we can get a few things done that will further enable business productivity and growth in the country, because I do think it's foundational and important. And it's one of the great tools to start erasing inequality. It looks like tax cuts and a tax holiday on overseas earnings are still on the table. Do you think all that money will get reinvested into the economy and, ultimately, result in more jobs and more hiring? It can. I don't think it's a fait accompli. It's not simply that you bring the money back. We invest money when we have a business opportunity or a growth opportunity in front of us. So it's not invested because I have a pile of cash, and I hate that it sits in a bank. Therefore, I'm just going to deploy it randomly. So I think it's important to get our corporate tax rules to be much more sane than they are today. They're crazy, and we need to fix them. And if tax holiday is one of the steps, that's fine. If it's the only step, we've done it before. It doesn't really solve the ongoing challenge that we have. We've got to get after this and start getting rules that drive better behavior than we have right now. Let's talk a little bit about Trump's environmental policies. He made it very clear during the campaign that he was going make some significant changes. Do you think he's going to fulfill those promises? I think he's going to go out and try, no doubt about it. So I think the environmental policy will change, and we'll adjust. I also think states have a big say in this, right? And so it's not as simple as a federal mandate. I think they can make it-- they have their place, but there's also a number of state mandates. And also, I think, broadly, the population is concerned about the environment. So if he does abolish the Environmental Protection Agency, if he ends some environmental regulations and revives the coal industry, what does that mean for Ecolab, given that you're in the business of water conservation? You're a green tech, clean tech kind of a company. Well, I think, perversely, the answer is it's probably beneficial for our company, even though I would say it would be a regrettable decision in the minds of many. And the reason it would be beneficial is we do water treatment. The water challenge is really a supply and demand challenge. But we also treat water in mining operations to make sure it's clean. We treat it in oil and gas operations to make sure it's clean. Because this work is going on, and we want to make sure it's done as environmentally safely as it can be. So I don't think there's going to be a wholesale change or we no longer follow clean water acts or air acts, which have been in place since the '70s. 

Ecolab's CEO Isn't Worried About Trump's Stance on Climate Change

Leadership

Douglas Baker says his company will have to “adjust.”

does. President elect Donald Trump says he's America's first business president. What do you think you could do? Trump's clearly gonna change policies and with change is going to come. I think it changed an outcome on I think with the right move, that outcome could be positive. But when you're making these changes, there's unintended consequences if you're not thoughtful about it. But that's why I've got a team, You know, Trump campaigned on saying that he was going to get the U. S economy to grow by 4% maybe 5%. Certainly the markets are confident that the country going in the right direction. But do you think that President Elect Trump can really trigger that kind of growth? I'm not betting that U s gonna be growing 4 to 5% in the near term, but I do have a lot of confidence in the U. S. I had confidence before the election, and I remain confident simply because I think we have a lot of assets in the country and I'm very hopeful that we can get a few things done that will further enable business productivity and growth in the country, because I do think it's foundational and important, and it's one of the great tools to start a racing inequality. It looks like tax cuts and a tax holiday on overseas burnings are still on the table. Do you think all that money will get reinvested into the economy and ultimately result in more jobs and more hiring can? I don't think it's fate accompli. It's not simply that, you know, you bring the money back. You know we invest money when we have a business opportunity or growth opportunity in front of us. So it's not invested because I have a pile of cash and I hate that it sits in a bank. Therefore, I'm just going to deploy it randomly. So I I think I think it's important to get our corporate tax rules to be much more sane than they are today. They're crazy and we need to fix him. And if tax holiday is one of the steps, that's fine. If it's the only step we've done it before, it doesn't really solve the ongoing challenge that we have. We've got to get after this and start getting rules that drive better behavior than we have right now. Let's have a little bit about Trump's environmental policy. He made it very clear during the campaign that he was gonna make some significance changes. Do you think he's gonna fulfill the promise? I think he's going to go out and try, no doubt about it. So I think the environmental policy will change and we'll just I also think states have a big say in this, right? So it's not as simple as a federal mandate. I think they can. They could make it. You know, they have their place, but there's also a number of state mandates, and also, I think, broadly, the population is concerned about the environment. So if he does abolish the Environmental Protection Agency, if he ends some environmental regulations and revived the coal industry, what does that mean for equal lab? Given that you're in the business of water conservation, you're a green tech, clean tech kind of a company. Well, I think perversely, the answer's probably beneficial for our company. Even though I would be a regrettable decision in the minds of many in the reason would be beneficial is we do water treatment. The water challenges really a supply and demand challenge but we also treat water in mining operations to make sure it's clean. We treat it in oil and gas operations to make sure it's clean because this work is going on. We want to make sure it's done is environmentally safely as it can be. So I don't think there's gonna be a wholesale change where we no longer follow clean water acts or or air acts which have been in place since the seventies.