Chubb Chairman and CEO Evan Greenberg voiced dissatisfaction about the "America First" political direction of the United States and how it is causing damage to world trade and politics.
While Greenberg has supported Trump's tax reform law, he's voiced steady concerns about other policies, using at least one previous earnings call last year to critique plans to restrict immigration as well as nationalist/protectionist sentiments spreading internationally. His new shareholder letter makes a particular target of the America First strategy, something President Donald Trump has made a cornerstone of his trade and foreign policy. While Greenberg did not mention Trump by name, he said the strategy Trump supports has been harmful on multiple levels.
He said that an America First approach was a harmful rejection of the global multilateral system that the U.S. has supported for nearly 70 years.
Greenberg's concerns also apply to an ongoing issue close to home. In last year's shareholder letter, Greenberg expressed worry about Trump's threats to tear up the NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) deal between the United States, Canada and Mexico. This year, he pointed out that U.S. firms operating in Mexico and Canada have plenty at stake, including Chubb, and that the renegotiation or cancellation of the NAFTA agreement could cause widespread economic and political harm.
Greenberg said the NAFTA deal and others like it ensure a "rules-based system of trade, and one that's fair," adding that America has been in the lead of promoting that concept for years.
Greenberg wants to see that rules-based trade approach with China. In recent weeks, the U.S. and China have punched and counterpunched, respectively, with the threat of tariffs on billions of dollars of products.
Greenberg said he agreed that China continued to have "market access barriers and industrial policies" that prevented greater economic and commercial ties, as well as a more level playing field for trade.
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