Trump's tariffs 'hit' Bank of America clients' investments: 'Uncertainty is greater'

Bank of America has seen a slowdown in investor activity since the start of 2025. Is it related to Donald Trump?

The bank says its clients have become increasingly unsure about the direction the US president will take in his second term in the White House .

Jim DeMare, head of Bank of America’s Global Markets Division , warned that uncertainty was “much greater” as markets have tried to assess the new administration’s initial actions, especially the impact the proposed tariffs could have on asset prices .

“Customers are doing a little bit less today than they were when we came in at the beginning of the year and certainly when we finished the fourth quarter of last year,” DeMare explained in an interview with Bloomberg Television .

“People are, I would say, waiting to get more information to make further adjustments to their portfolios ,” he said.

Bank of America has been pouring more money and resources from its balance sheet into its trading business in recent years, helping it gain market share from rivals.

The firm has also been assigning additional responsibilities to DeMare, putting him in charge of the bank's research operations in December.

Despite a slowdown in activity for some clients , it will likely be a “good quarter” for his firm’s traders , DeMare said. The group posted record revenue in 2024.

Speaking on the sidelines of the bank's investor summit in Dubai, DeMare said the outlook for Gulf countries was good and the region was open to investment.

“Whenever you invest in a region, you want to know that your interests are aligned with those of the government ,” he said. “I think they’ve been very transparent here, that they’re pro-business, they want to attract capital, they want to attract people, and they want to be a global destination. So it’s a good place for us.”

Southern Copper , a mining company with operations in Mexico and listed on Wall Street, has warned that it could reduce its shipments to the United States if Donald Trump applies 25 percent tariffs .

10 percent of Southern Copper's sales are to the United States . That's why, in a conference call with analysts, the company's clients raised the possibility that 8.5 percent of those operations could be for another client.

“At the end of the day, we operate by producing raw materials and that is one of the characteristics of commodities: They can be shipped to different markets ,” they argued.

Nemak, an aluminum company with operations in Mexico, admitted that it is studying the possibility of moving part of its production to the US if tariffs are applied starting next week.

“We have limited capacity in the U.S. to produce additional parts, but if we were to move any volume of our capacity that we have in Mexico to the U.S., that will have to make economic sense for Nemak to do so ,” Armando Tamez, Nemak’s CEO, told analysts last week.

Other companies considering moving their production from Mexico to the US include automotive companies, particularly General Motors and Nissan.

With information from Fernando Navarrete