Bank of America CEO: "Trade Tensions Expected to Ease Next Year"

"Raising Tariffs from 10% to 15% Is Not a Major Shock"

Brian Moynihan, CEO of Bank of America (BofA), predicted that the Trump administration's tariff policy next year will help ease trade tensions.

On the 28th (local time), in an interview with CBS's "Face the Nation," CEO Moynihan commented on the current average tariff rate of around 15%, stating, "We are not entering a phase of further tariff escalation, but rather moving into a stage of de-escalation."

CEO Moynihan explained, "Raising the tariff rate from 10% for all countries to 15% for most countries is not a major shock," adding, "This is precisely why we believe trade tensions have entered a phase of easing."

The Trump administration announced in April that a base tariff rate of 10% would be applied to all countries. In July, additional tariff measures were released. If the new tariffs are implemented, the average tariff rate will rise to 15.2%. Bloomberg Economics estimated that these measures have caused the average U.S. tariff rate to rise from 2% to 14%.

CEO Moynihan drew a clear line regarding China, stating it is "a different level of issue." He also cited negotiations with North American trading partners over the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which is scheduled for review next year, as a major variable.

However, he assessed, "Overall, we are beginning to see some kind of endpoint in the global trade environment."

CEO Moynihan explained that while high tariffs and uncertainty in trade policy placed a burden on small and medium-sized businesses in the second quarter of this year, the recent slight easing of tariff rates has provided some relief.

He added that small and medium-sized businesses are currently more concerned about securing labor than tariffs, and that some of the Trump administration's immigration policies have yet to be fully established.