If he would instead listen to the business community, he’d learn that many companies and their executives are deeply concerned about the effect of Mr. Trump’s other policies, like his executive order banning visitors and immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries. Travis Kalanick, the chief executive of Uber, the taxi-alternative service, on Thursday announced that he would not attend the White House meeting and would leave the president’s business advisory council because of his dismay with that order. “Immigration and openness to refugees is an important part of our country’s success and quite honestly to Uber’s,” he wrote in an email to employees, many of whom had called on him to distance himself from the president.

Mr. Trump, though, focused on Dodd-Frank, seemingly determined to sabotage the financial stability that has helped the job market recover in recent years and set the stage for continued growth. He has been lucky enough to inherit an economy that added 11.5 million jobs during President Obama’s tenure, the fourth-highest tally of the 12 administrations in the post-World War II era. There is, of course, much work still to be done: Growth in wages is not yet strong, and too many people are able to find only part-time work. But the foundation on which to build — economic growth, financial stability, monthly job tallies and low unemployment — is firm.

Diluting or repealing Dodd-Frank would be a grave setback. It would reassert the deregulatory sentiment that preceded and precipitated the financial booms and busts of recent decades, including the dot.com bust of the early 2000s and the mortgage bust that preceded the bank bailouts of 2008. Recession was a feature of both calamities. In each case, jobs, wages and wealth took hits from which many American workers have been unable to fully recover while those at the apex of income and wealth emerged even richer.

The Dodd-Frank Act has imposed rules and regulations on what had become a largely deregulated financial system. The law’s overarching aim is to protect workers and consumers by countering the financial speculation, reckless lending and price gouging that inflate bubbles. By design, such rules make it harder for banks to make money, which is why bankers have fought so hard to weaken and repeal Dodd-Frank.