Is It Too Late to Save the US Economy?
All the evidence suggests that recovering from Trump’s tariff debacle will be neither easy nor swift.
The US economy is losing its integrity.
Photographer: Ernesto Benavides/AFP via Getty Images
America's most innovative companies took an unprecedented beating in the early days of Donald Trump’s second term as US president. Just take a look at Apple Inc. From its record $3.9 trillion valuation as the world's richest company on Dec. 26, it lost as much as $1.3 trillion, a record devaluation for the 49-year-old creator of the iPhone and more than the stock markets of Sweden, South Korea or Ireland.
Apple is far from alone. Alphabet Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Meta Platforms Inc. and Tesla Inc. lost a combined $2.2 trillion even after their founders and chief executive officers attended the Jan. 20 inauguration of the 47th President in the most visible sign of obeying in advance. Apple CEO Tim Cook personally donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration, a sum matched by Meta, Amazon and Google-parent Alphabet. Tesla's Elon Musk spent at least $288 million to help elect Trump and other Republican candidates in 2024.