President Donald Trump’s quick suspension of new federal regulations has triggered some unintended consequences: sudden pain and deeper uncertainty for a broad array of U.S. businesses.Oil and gas companies, ethanol producers, real estate agents and small farmers are among those that could be hurt by the regulatory freeze. Some are lobbying to preserve regulations that Trump put on hold.
“I want him and whoever’s in his Cabinet to look at what the rules are saying,” said Eric Hedrick, a West Virginia chicken farmer trying to save an Obama-era rule. “Don’t just say that it’s another regulation. Look at what it says. Look at what the rule will do for farmers and ranchers across the country.”
The sweeping executive order, signed hours after the president’s inauguration, was intended to help American businesses by halting rules developed in the waning days of the Obama administration. Trump later vowed to cut regulations by 75 percent.
While many businesses are cheering Trump’s sprint to deregulate, the reaction from some corners of the business landscape underscores how complicated the issue is. For every government regulation, there are winners as well as losers.
Trump’s moves have also created uncertainty, the one thing corporate executives curse even more than government interference.
The administration’s first week has shaken foundations that companies have been building on for decades. FedEx Corp., John Deere and Hollywood were among the big losers when Trump torpedoed TPP this week. Target, Wal-Mart and other big retailers that depend on imports are struggling to decipher the president’s statements on a border tax, which could force them to raise prices they charge to customers. “Disruption has come to Washington in a big, big way, in a way we’ve never seen before,” said Matthew Shay, president of the National Retail Federation. In a speech to NRF members last week, Shay called the border tax “potentially disastrous.
”The National Association of Realtors, whose 1.2 million members lean Republican, was the first group to feel the pain of Trump’s regulatory freeze. Just hours after being sworn in as president, even before issuing his broad executive order on regulation, Trump rolled back an Obama plan to lower costs for some homebuyers.
The $831 billion mortgage insurance industry rejoiced. But real estate agents hold out hope that the reversal at the Federal Housing Administration is temporary. They are making their case to the public and to Trump.
“We believe that the benefits of the mortgage insurance premium cut will shine through during this review period, so it can be quickly put back into place,” NAR President William Brown said.
A renewable-fuel market indicator had its biggest one-day drop in more than six weeks after the Environmental Protection Agency said it would delay standards for adding biofuels to the U.S. gasoline supply.
Houston-based Westlake Chemical Partners notified shareholders that the president had suspended a tax rule favorable to the business. Other companies might get tax relief — a plan to raise estate taxes on certain businesses was suspended, too.
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