Trump Unveils Plan to Limit Public Access to Key Economic Data

Updated by Faith Barbara N Ruhinda at 1348 EAT on Tuesday 16 September 2025

In a whirlwind day for markets and investors, President Donald Trump added a fresh jolt to the news cycle with a social media post casually proposing the dismantling of a decades-old pillar of corporate financial transparency.

On Monday morning, Trump revived one of his long-standing policy ideas, suggesting that publicly traded companies should no longer be required to report earnings every quarter, but instead switch to a semi-annual reporting schedule.

“This will save money, and allow managers to focus on properly running their companies,” he wrote.

While the proposal is not new—and mirrors existing rules in the UK and much of Europe, where many companies report only twice a year—it signals another step in Trump’s broader push to reshape the U.S. economic system in his image.

Critics say the move could reduce market transparency, weaken investor protections, and hinder regulatory oversight. They argue it fits into a wider pattern in which Trump has challenged data, dismissed institutions, and pushed policies that prioritize short-term political narratives over long-term accountability.

Supporters, however, say quarterly reporting places undue pressure on companies to chase short-term profits at the expense of innovation and sustainable growth. Trump’s proposal could resonate with some business leaders who view the current system as burdensome and outdated.

Still, any such change would require action from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and it’s unclear whether regulators or lawmakers would support such a shift—especially in an election season.

Some academics and business leaders argue that the U.S. requirement for companies to disclose financial results every quarter— a practice in place since 1970 — has fueled Corporate America’s fixation on short-term stock market performance at the expense of long-term value creation.

Trump previously floated the idea in 2018, tweeting that he had asked the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to “study” the possibility of shifting to semi-annual reporting. However, it remains unclear whether the proposal gained any serious traction or led to concrete policy changes.

Criticism of so-called “quarterly capitalism” spans the political spectrum. During her presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton proposed a range of measures aimed at encouraging corporate executives to focus on long-term growth and job stability rather than short-term profits.

In 2018, prominent financiers Jamie Dimon and Warren Buffett also weighed in—calling on public companies to reduce or eliminate the practice of providing quarterly earnings forecasts. While their recommendation differs from Trump’s proposal to scale back mandatory quarterly reporting, the two business leaders emphasized that their stance should not be interpreted as opposition to regular financial disclosures.

“We are not advocating an end to quarterly or annual reporting,” they said, underscoring the importance of these disclosures for maintaining the integrity and transparency of public markets.

Public companies are not required to issue forward-looking earnings guidance, though many voluntarily do so to help shape investor expectations on Wall Street.

Proponents of quarterly reporting argue that transparent and efficient public markets depend on regular disclosures—no matter how burdensome that may be for corporate executives, who must devote resources to compliance, accounting, and investor communications four times a year. The principle is simple: even if you own just one share of a company, that fractional ownership entitles you to timely, consistent insights into how the business is performing.

Scrapping quarterly reports would come at a cost, critics say. “It would absolutely raise the risk premium for the U.S. equity market compared to peers around the world,” wrote George Pearkes, global macro strategist at Bespoke Investment Group, in a post on Bluesky. “This idea is terrible.”

Any change to the reporting schedule would require formal approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). While such a move could be greenlit by the agency’s Trump-appointed chair, Paul Atkins, implementation would still likely take months, if not longer.

The White House offered no additional comment beyond President Trump’s social media post. However, in an email response, a spokesperson for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said that, at the president’s direction, Chair Paul Atkins and the agency are “prioritizing this proposal to further eliminate unnecessary regulatory burdens on companies.”

At its core, the move reflects Trump’s long-standing focus on perception over performance. Throughout both of his terms, the president has shown a pattern of questioning or sidelining data that could cast his administration in a negative light—particularly when it comes to the economy. By potentially limiting the frequency of public disclosures, critics say Trump may be seeking to manage headlines as much as market policy.

Last month, when faced with data suggesting his tariffs were harming the U.S. job market, President Trump fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics and claimed the numbers were rigged, according to reporting by CNN.

This isn’t an isolated incident. Trump’s fixation on controlling the narrative around numbers has been a defining trait of his presidency. From insisting his 2016 inauguration crowds were the largest in history, to arguing in March 2020 that cruise ship passengers should remain at sea because he “would rather have the numbers stay where they are,” to being found liable for fraudulently inflating the value of his real estate assets—Trump has consistently challenged data that undermines his image.

That’s why his push to reduce corporate transparency should be viewed in a broader context. Critics argue it fits into a pattern of attempting to obscure or downplay unfavorable economic indicators. So far, corporate earnings have mostly withstood the pressures of Trump’s trade war, helping to buoy the stock market. But the longer tariffs remain, the more strain they could place on corporate bottom lines.

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