Daiwa Securities boss Akihiko Ogino said the Japan brokerage won’t be pushing to add staff working on mergers and acquisitions, providing a downbeat assessment on the impact to dealmaking from U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade policy.

"We had originally planned to steadily increase the headcount, but I have issued an instruction to hold it for a bit,” Ogino said in a recent interview.

The assessment from Japan’s second-largest brokerage indicates how changes in global trade policy are rippling through spending activity as finance firms around the world signal investment banking fees could decline amid the turbulence.