David Solomon is Goldman Sachs CEO, but he once served as a DJ’s bystander. He retired in 2023 to avoid unnecessary media attention. However, two years later, Solomon’s musical performance returned to an unexpected source: the President of the United States.
President Donald Trump’s criticism comes shortly after Goldman Sachs analysts released a study detailing the financial impact of government tariff policies on U.S. consumers. “I think David should go out and be a new economist, or, maybe he should only focus on becoming a DJ instead of running a major financial institution,” Trump wrote in a Truth Society position yesterday (August 12).
The report, released on August 10, was led by Goldman Sachs chief economist Jan Hatzius, found that U.S. consumers had absorbed 22% of tariff fees by June. When all proposed tariffs come into effect, the digital banking project will rise to 67%.
Trump said Solomon and Goldman Sachs “refuse to give credit in the credit they deserve.” “Long time ago, they made bad predictions about the impact of the market and the tariffs themselves, and they were wrong, just like they did with other mistakes.”
Goldman Sachs rejected observers’ request for comment.
This is not the first time Solomon’s DJ career has caused controversy. He performed under the stage name “D-Sol”, in the venues in New York, the Bahamas even at the Lollapalooza Festival in Chicago. In hobbies being seen as dispersing his leadership role at Goldman Sachs at Goldman Sachs, Solomon quits public performances.
What do other banks have to say about tariffs?
Solomon had previously spoken about Trump’s tariff policy, warning that the taxes have attracted the attention of Goldman Sachs’ international clients. Wall Street has expressed similar uneasiness most of the time. After Trump announced “Liberation Day” tariffs, JPMorgan said the chances of a global recession rose from 40% to 60%. In the second month, Citigroup analysts predicted global growth will slow to 2.3% in 2025, down from 2.8% last year.
However, Trump defended the policy in a recent post, claiming that “trillions of dollars are paying for tariffs.” In fact, the Treasury Department data showed that in July, the U.S. customary tax totaled about $28 billion.
The president also argues that both large corporations and foreign governments (rather than American consumers) bear most of the costs. However, many companies warn that tariffs will eventually lead to higher prices, and some have caused Trump’s anger for saying this publicly. In May, after Walmart announced prices rose, Trump told retailers to “stop trying to blame tariffs” and urged them to absorb fees.
David Mericle, chief U.S. economist at Goldman Sachs, said in an interview today (August 13) that U.S. companies have taken most of the burden so far. However, he added that the company will need time to renegotiate import prices or transfer fees to consumers. Merrill also defended Trump’s criticism of the bank’s research.
“We support the results of this study,” Merrill said. “We are just trying to make the best economic forecasts for our clients.”
