Bad company Corporate America's values fail to stand up to Trump

During Donald Trump’s first term, the US’s corporate titans were prepared to literally turn their backs on the president when they disagreed with him.

- Lauren Aratani

Weeks of growing national anger over deadly immigration crackdowns in the US show how much has changed.Publicly, top chief executives have stayed - mostly - quiet during Trump’s second term, even as his administration has undermined free trade policies, cracked down on the immigration that many businesses relied on, and attacked the Federal Reserve - a pillar of the US's financial hegemony.

But its brutal handling of immigration raids in Minnesota and the killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis have tested corporate class reticence to its limits, highlighting their lack of leadership amid growing public anger.

A day after federal agents pinned down and shot Pretti to death on 24 January, a group of 60 CEOs of Minnesota-based firms including Target, Best Buy, 3M and General Mills released a group statement calling for the “immediate deescalation of tension” and for law enforcement agencies “to work together to find real solutions”.

A separate statement from Michael Fiddelke, incoming CEO of Minneapolis-headquartered Target, also did not mention Pretti, nor Renee Good, an unarmed woman also killed by federal agents in Minneapolis, or federal law enforcement action: “What’s happening affects us not just as a company, but as people, as neighbours, friends and family members within Target.”