President Donald Trump is on course to ring in the new year without having passed almost any of his campaign promises into law, according to a new survey conducted by CNBC.
Chief financial officers (CFOs) from some of the world’s largest firms said they had become increasingly pessimistic that the former New York businessman would be able to pass several of his – and the Republican Party’s – key agenda items into law by the end of 2017.
Global CFOs across a wide range of industries were asked to describe how confident they were the Trump administration would be able to deliver on six key legislative priorities. The results showed that CFOs believed it was unlikely any of the agenda items would be reformed by the Republican-controlled Congress this calendar year.
The six legislative areas were Obamacare reform, building a wall across the Mexican border, infrastructure, personal tax reform, corporate tax reform and repatriation.
On each issue, respondents to the survey said they were more doubtful than confident that reforms could be passed this year.
Less than 21 percent of global CFOs surveyed said they were confident the Trump administration would be able to pass reforms to overhaul health-care in 2017. When the same respondents were asked this question three months earlier, over 41 percent had expressed optimism that Trump could repeal President Barack Obama’s signature legislative achievement.
Responses to the CNBC Global CFO Survey are anonymous. All 35 CFOs who completed the survey responded to this question.
The U.S. Senate failed to pass various forms of health-care this summer, prompting Trump to blame Republican leaders for a legislative “mess.”
However, aside from the health-care debacle, the White House currently appears to be prioritizing tax reform. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin described this as the Trump administration’s number one priority.
Speaking at CNBC’s “Delivering Alpha” event on Tuesday, Mnuchin reiterated his confidence about getting a tax reform bill to the president’s desk in 2017. “We’re going to get this done by the end of the year,” he said, adding the White House is “super focused” on this issue.
Global CFOs were less optimistic.
Respondents of the CNBC Global CFO Survey said they were doubtful either personal or corporate tax reform would be passed into law in 2017. Less than 36 percent of respondents said they were confident for personal tax reform, while around 40 percent expressed confidence that corporate taxes would be overhauled.
The CNBC Global CFO Survey also asked respondents how much credit Trump deserved for various economic achievements since taking office in January.
Global CFOs said they were most likely to give Trump credit for the stock market’s record run, while more than half said he deserved “none of the credit” for the declining employment rate.
The S&P 500 has surged more than 16.6 percent since Trump sealed election victory on November 9, while the Nasdaq is up around 11.4 percent over the same period.
Source: cnbc
Trump likely to fail on almost every campaign pledge in 2017, say global CFOs