Bloomberg (December 12)
“AI is powering Trump’s economy, but American voters are getting worried.” The Wall Street consensus is “that AI has driven most of the gains on the S&P 500 this year” so that may make AI look like a hero. Among voters, however, there are “signs of an AI backlash, one that could amplify concerns about the cost of living and the job-market outlook in Trump’s economy.” Data center projects are increasingly being “blocked or delayed by local opposition” and roughly $98 billion in investment was “stymied in the second quarter, more than the total for all previous quarters since 2023.”
Tags: AI, Backlash, Blocked, Consensus, Cost of living, Data centers, Delayed, Economy, Gains, Investment, Job market, Opposition, Outlook, S&P 500, Trump, Voters, Wall Street, Worried
Reuters (November 26)
China’s 10-year “Made in China 2025” masterplan ruffled global feathers upon introduction nearly a decade ago. The plan “laid out sweeping goals across aviation, robotics and other sectors aimed at transforming the world’s second largest economy into a ‘manufacturing superpower.’” This November, a U.S. government report “found that … the country has ‘met or exceeded many of the very ambitious global market share, local sourcing and technological development targets.’” China’s next plan is also likely to create international backlash. “All eyes are on China’s next economic blueprint. Indeed, a Made in China 2035 plan is probably already underway,” but being kept “under wraps.”
Tags: “Made in China 2025”, Ambitious, Aviation, Backlash, Economy, Global market share, Goals, Local sourcing, Manufacturing superpower, Masterplan, Robotic, Technological development, Transforming, U.S.
Minnesota Star Tribune (May 21)
“The world changed” in 2020 when “a police officer murdered George Floyd on a Minneapolis street corner.” Corporations put money and muscle into doing things better. In 2025, however, “a national backlash has slammed the brakes on investments aimed at improving deep-seated socioeconomic disparities…. President Donald Trump issued executive orders banning diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in the public and private sectors.” U.S. corporations fell in line “by stepping back their public-facing efforts.”
Tags: Backlash, Banning, Corporations, Deep-seated, DEI, Executive orders, Floyd, Investments, Minneapolis, Money, Murdered, Police, Socioeconomic disparities, Trump, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (December 28)
“Corporate America pulled back on diversity programs in 2024 under pressure from activists.” The new year will bring greater challenges as the incoming Trump administration gears up “to end diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, policies.” Many corporates “still support diversity efforts, even if they avoid the term, bend to the demands of activists or try to sidestep skirmishes with Trump’s administration. CEOs also risk backlash among customers and employees.”
Tags: 2024, Activists, Backlash, CEOs, Corporate America, Customers, DEI, Demands, Diversity programs, Employees, Equity, Inclusion, Pressure, Sidestep, Trump administration
Seeking Alpha (August 20)
“Harley-Davidson (HOG) is the latest corporation to back away from DEI initiatives following a backlash kickstarted by activist and political commentator Robby Starbuck. An online campaign against the 120-year-old motorcycle company accused the firm and its CEO, Jochen Zeitz, of embracing a ‘woke agenda of the very far left’ that does not align with the business’s core customers. It follows similar campaigns against Deere (DE) and Tractor Supply (TSCO), which both shelved their DEI protocols earlier in the summer.”
Tags: Activist, Align, Backlash, Campaigns, CEO, Core customers, Deere, DEI initiatives, Harley-Davidson, Kickstarted, Shelved, Woke agenda
Financial Times (July 23)
“The squirts heard around the world” were fired as “anti-tourism protesters doused visitors to Barcelona with water pistols.” They resonated so broadly because the “backlash against tourism” isn’t confined to Spain. In other countries as well “the mass of pleasure seekers has grown so great that, from Venice and Amsterdam to Lisbon and the Greek island of Santorini, the patience of locals has snapped.”
Tags: Amsterdam, Anti-tourism, Backlash, Barcelona, Lisbon, Locals, Patience, Pleasure seekers, Protesters, Santorini, Snapped, Spain, Venice, Water pistols
Financial Times (February 28)
Norway’s $1.3 trillion sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, “is voting against Apple’s pay policies, including $99mn in salary and bonuses for chief executive Tim Cook, part of a growing shareholder backlash against remuneration at the tech giant.” The funds rationale includes the belief that “a substantial part of annual pay should be provided in shares that are locked in for five to 10 years.”
Tags: Apple, Backlash, Bonuses, Cook, Fund, Norway, Pay policies, Remuneration, Salary, Shareholder, Sovereign wealth, Tech, Voting
Wall Street Journal (July 19)
“What began as an obscure, tech-supply trade fight between Tokyo and Seoul has now erupted into a boycott mushrooming across South Korea, a backlash targeting Japanese apparel, travel and electronics.” According to a recent poll, “most South Koreans are avoiding Japan-made products.”
Tags: Apparel, Backlash, Boycott, Obscure, South Korea, Tech-supply, Tokyo, Trade fight, Travel
Bloomberg (May 23)
“Japan is beginning a major and unprecedented exercise.” Though “new immigration will help keep Japan’s economy and pension system afloat, it will inevitably introduce social strains.” Time alone will tell “whether the country’s culture and institutions will be able to learn from Europe’s experience and manage a smooth transition, or whether immigration will spark a nativist backlash that closes the country off once again.”
Tags: Backlash, Culture, Economy, Europe, Immigration, Japan, Nativist, Pension system, Social strains
MarketWatch (March 8)
“Car makers are facing a perfect storm of trade tariffs, slumping demand in the crucial Chinese market, and a backlash against diesel, which are together having a seismic effect on businesses. A shift toward electric and autonomous vehicles has not helped. They require vast investment and a different way of thinking.” Instead of the usual “corporate grins” at the Geneva Motor Show, there is “a collective grimace.”
Tags: Backlash, Car makers, China, Diesel, EVs, Geneva Motor Show, Grimace, Investment, Perfect storm, Slumping demand, Trade tariffs
