BofA CEO Moynihan: Trump's Tariff War Shifts Into De-Escalation Phase
The conversation between CBS Face the Nation’s Margaret Brennan and Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan on Sunday morning focused on the economic outlook for small businesses after nearly one year of the Trump administration’s ‘America First’ policies.
Moynihan discussed trade policy, tariffs, small businesses, labor, and immigration. He noted that, on the trade front, Trump’s trade war with many of America’s top trading partners was chaotic in early 2025 and caused significant concern among small businesses, a key client base for BofA. By the end of the year, however, that chaos had largely subsided.
Brennan asked BofA CEO:
In the past year, trade and tariffs—there were a lot of shocks to the system. It was a big concern. But Bank of America now projects that President Trump's strategy is one of de-escalation, not escalation. Does that mean you see this trade war with China cooling off?
Moynihan's response:
Well, I think if you go back to where we were in April, there was a lot of lack of understanding about what would end up being affected for small businesses. They were shocked—they'll be shocked—by the sheer size and volume of dollars across the board, etc. What you'd say now, as time has moved on, it's sort of 15% on one side, and then higher numbers based on people who won't commit to purchase from the US or will not commit to lowering their non-tariff barriers, things like that.
So the question—when I talk to foreign governments, they ask questions about, "What does this all mean for CEOs?" You've got a choice: you could be here, you just have to make choices. It's going to drive more towards America—come down to 15%, go to 10% across the board, 15% for the broad base of countries. Not a huge impact. And that's where our team says it is starting to de-escalate. You start seeing resolution discussions—15% here, different numbers.
When you put China in, it's a Chinese question because of national security interests: rare earth minerals, magnets, batteries, chips, AI—all this stuff. It's a very different case. I think also between Mexico, China, and the US—the USMCA, which has to be redone—is also a different case. But broadly in the world, you can see sort of an endpoint here, and now they've just got to work with it. It's got to work through the system.
Brennan then asked:
How much of a toll has that taken on small businesses? I understand Bank of America is the largest small business lender in the country…
Moynihan responded:
It was a big toll earlier this year because rates were going up—it cost more money because they borrow on revolving lines of credit… and they were on floating rates. And then tariffs came in and caused, "I'm not sure I can get the goods at what price and how I could commit."
As you went through the year, rates came down a little bit, so now their issue right now is labor—they need to get labor to bid contracts and do the work. Because immigration policies haven't settled in yet, that's causing people concern. It's not that they agree with them or disagree with them—just need to have an answer.
And that's, I think, across four policy regimes: tax, trade and tariffs, immigration, and ultimately deregulation. We've seen resolution of a lot of it. But I think the next one for small business—what they tell us—is labor availability.
How they get there is, "I need people to do this work, and I need to be dependable that they're here. So give me a set of rules, and I'll go play with them. I just need clarity on what the rules are."
Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan says small business owners have concerns about the Trump administration’s immigration policies, not because “they agree with them or disagree with them,” but rather the “policies haven't settled in yet.”
“What they tell us is labor… pic.twitter.com/pPpXkCV07a
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) December 28, 2025
What is very clear is that Trump’s America First policies have defied the apocalyptic consensus of mainstream economists, MSM complex, and the Democratic Party’s propaganda machine.
Economic data show solid growth and controlled inflation, pointing to a robust 2026, just in time for the midterms, as Democrats search for their next doom-and-gloom narrative to flood the airwaves. Yet Democrats fail even to mention that much of the affordability crisis originated during the Biden-Harris regime years and their nation-killing globalist policies, which Trump officials have been correcting this year
Tyler Durden
Mon, 12/29/2025 – 17:20