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

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

Brian Moynihan, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Bank of America (BofA), predicted that the Trump administration's tariff policies 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 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 exactly why we believe trade tensions are entering a phase of easing."

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

Regarding China, CEO Moynihan drew a clear line, stating it is "a different level of issue." He also identified 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 tariffs has provided some relief.

He added that the issue currently causing more concern for small and medium-sized businesses is securing labor, rather than tariffs, and that some of the Trump administration's immigration policies have not yet been fully established.