By Anna Wright,Editor

Copyright dailymail

Behind their public praise for the President, America’s top CEOs are seemingly far more worried about the Trump administration’s policies than they let on.

Prominent corporate figures such as Motorola Solutions boss Greg Brown, Booking Holdings CEO Glenn Fogel, and Ethan Allen chief Farooq Kathwari, gathered at Yale School of Management on Wednesday to discuss tariffs, immigration, and foreign policy.

Many of the elite business executives used the gathering to voice their concerns about the ‘increasingly chaotic, hard-to-navigate business environment,’ according to the Wall Street Journal.

Some heads of major companies shared their concerns privately, out of fear of being targeted or criticized by President Trump, the report states.

‘They’re being extorted and bullied individually, but in private discourse, they’re really upset,’ said Yale management professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, who organized the event.

His comments were reportedly in reference to the recent deals that give the US a cut of certain Nvidia chip sales and a ‘golden share’ in US Steel.

The WSJ reported that executives are concerned by these ‘state capitalism’ moves, worried that it will interfere with the US’s free-market economic system.

‘The government should not choose winners or losers in sectors,’ CEO of Snap-on tools Nick Pinchuk said.

Tariffs were said to be another key issue weighing on these top CEOs, with 71 percent of attendees reportedly saying that tariffs are hurting, not helping, their businesses.

Roughly three quarters of respondents believed the tariffs are illegally executed, an issue the Supreme Court will make an ultimate decision on this fall.

The majority also said US consumers are suffering the most when it comes to the costs on tariffs.

The administration’s goal with the tariffs has been to stimulate the economy and create more US jobs, with major firms like Apple and pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly among those planning to make more of their products domestically.

Despite this, 62% of respondents said they will not invest more into producing product in the US, according to the WSJ report.

Sonnenfeld said he believes the tariffs are holding back CEOs to make new investments.

Not all the executives disapproved of the administration, according to attendees, with the vast majority of those in attendance thought to be Republicans.

Many appreciated the efforts Trump officials are making to correct trade issues, but were not a fan of the way some policies were executed.

Kathwari of Ethan Allen said there was ‘a fair amount of confusion’ regarding trade fairness.

‘The focus on making trade fair between America and the rest of the world is important, but now it’s got to be managed so it does not create chaos.’

CEOs were nearly unanimous for their disfavor in Trump pressuring Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to lower interest rates, the report stated.

Eighty percent believed Trump ‘wasn’t acting in the best long-term interests of America’ on this, according to WSJ.

Regardless of their concerns, the corporate elites have a boatload of confidence in the US’s development of develop artificial-intelligence technology in its race for supremacy against China.

Nearly three-quarters said they had faith in the US.