Bank CEOs keep calm as end of tariff pause approaches

The clock is ticking for the 90-day pause on President Trump’s tariffs. As the July 8 deadline draws near, banks face the possibility of a new round of disruptions to their business — and yet some CEOs aren’t worried.

In interviews with American Banker, two bank leaders expressed confidence that Trump will avoid ratcheting his tariffs back up to their original amounts. Even if new trade deals are not reached in time, the CEOs said, Trump will most likely “declare victory” and leave the levies at manageable levels.

“My belief system is that this administration, while they talk seriously about how they’re going to lay down the law, I don’t believe that they want to go down as the White House that burned down the nation,” said Mariner Kemper, CEO of UMB Financial, a $69 billion-asset bank…