Trump Disputes Goldman Sachs Predictions on Tariff Effects

President Donald Trump said Tuesday (Aug. 12) that Goldman Sachs and CEO David Solomon should replace the bank’s chief economist and disputed the bank’s predictions about the effects of U.S. tariffs.

“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,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “I think that David should go out and get himself a new economist, or maybe he ought to just focus on being a DJ and not bother running a major financial institution.”

Reached by PYMNTS, Goldman Sachs declined to comment on the post.

The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that Solomon formerly had a “side gig” as a DJ.

In his post on Truth Social, Trump said that tariffs have brought in trillions of dollars, have not caused inflation, and have been paid by companies and governments rather than consumers.

“But David Solomon and Goldman Sachs refuse to give credit where credit is due,” Trump said in the post.

According to the WSJ report, Goldman Sachs’ economists, like many other economists, predicted tariffs could impact the labor market, cause inflation and slow economic growth.

On Sunday (Aug. 10), it was reported that Goldman Sachs research said that while U.S. companies have so far absorbed the brunt of the tariffs, consumers will soon feel more pressure as companies raise prices.

The bank’s economists wrote in the research that consumers had absorbed 22% of tariff costs as of the end of June and will absorb 67% in the future if the newest levies follow in the path of previous tariffs.

It was reported April 9 that Goldman Sachs economists issued a note predicting a recession due to new U.S. tariffs and then retracted that forecast a little over an hour later after Trump paused the reciprocal tariffs.

In another, earlier dispute over the effects of tariffs, Trump said in a social media post that Walmart should “eat the tariffs” after the retailer warned that it would have to increase its prices because of tariffs.

PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster wrote in a Tuesday article on LinkedIn, posted before Trump’s comments on Goldman Sachs, that PYMNTS Intelligence began tracking the cost of uncertainty for middle-market companies in January 2024, before tariffs entered the headlines.

“Eighteen months later, with tariff-related disruptions now in play, we can show how businesses have shifted behavior over time, and how the cost of uncertainty is a driver of those decisions,” Webster wrote.