Jan Hatzius has been Goldman Sachs’ chief economist for quite some time — he correctly warned, for example, about the systemic risks of mortgage defaults ahead of the 2008 crash — which has raised his public profile. This made it all the more notable when Hatzius started warning about the adverse economic effects of the White House’s trade tariffs.
Donald Trump doesn’t just think Hatzius is wrong, the president also apparently wants him fired. The Wall Street Journal reported:
President Trump on Tuesday appeared to call for Goldman Sachs Chief Executive David Solomon to replace the bank’s top economist over his past predictions, in his latest broadside against executives he believes are undermining his goals. Trump said on his Truth Social social-media platform that Solomon should ‘go out and get himself a new Economist’ because the bank made a ‘bad prediction a long time ago’ on the market and tariffs. The president asserted that tariffs haven’t caused inflation or other issues for the U.S. economy.
As part of the same online missive, the Republican also wrote, “Trillions of Dollars are being taken in on Tariffs.” To the extent that reality still has any meaning, tariffs have generated some revenue — roughly $152 billion through July — but to suggest this figure is “trillions of dollars” is bonkers.
The Journal’s report added, “Hatzius and his team have been among the many economists who have predicted tariff policies would dent labor markets, cause higher inflation and slow U.S. economic growth.”
Those predictions have held up rather well: In recent months, job growth in the U.S. has slowed to a 16-year low; stubborn inflation rates are inching higher, not lower; and U.S. economic growth has been sluggish in 2025.
Nevertheless, Trump put these nagging details aside and wrote, “David Solomon and Goldman Sachs refuse to give credit where credit is due. They made a bad prediction a long time ago on both the Market repercussion and the Tariffs themselves, and they were wrong, just like they are wrong about so much else.”
For now, let’s not dwell on the fact that Trump’s agenda is failing; or that “crediting” a president for failing doesn’t make any sense; or that the administration’s own data suggests Goldman Sachs’ assessments related to tariffs haven’t been “wrong” at all.
Instead, consider a big-picture question: Since when does a sitting American president publicly lobby major financial institutions to fire specific employees? The record suggests Hatzius has been correct — but even if he’d been wrong, it’s not Trump’s job to tell Goldman Sachs who should and shouldn’t serve as the bank’s chief economist. The Journal published a separate analysis last week that noted the Republican “has no qualms about acting as the micromanager in chief,” which includes “telling corporate bosses how to run their companies.” I haven’t seen any evidence that Goldman Sachs is taking Trump’s bizarre advice seriously, but the fact that the president even issued such a public statement was a timely reminder about his maximalist assumptions regarding the scope of his powers: Trump doesn’t just see himself as the head of the executive branch, he also apparently sees himself as the CEO of America.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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