The phrase "harm the trust" is correct and usable in written English.
This phrase can be used when talking about the damaging effect of an action on trust between two people, such as a couple or a business relationship. For example, "Cheating on his girlfriend caused him to harm the trust they had built between them."
"Your preference for the identity of the defense minister to remain open seriously harmed the trust between us and does not allow me to accept the job".
The second theme centered on harm to the trust patients place in their medical providers and healthcare systems.
The fact that the harm is to the trust in the market makes it easier to argue that there is little measurable impact from the violation when there is no victim who will stand up in court and explain what happened after the crime, as we saw at Mr. Madoff's sentencing.
"Chumming with a secessionist is playing with fire, which severely harms the mutual trust between China and the United States, and downgrades Obama's credit as a national leader for breaking his commitments to China on the Tibet issue," the state newswire Xinhua wrote in a commentary just before the meeting.
When the phosphate reserves were exhausted, and the island's environment had been seriously harmed by mining, the trust that had been established to manage the island's wealth diminished in value.
Judge Breyer said the prison sentence and the fine were appropriate because of the potential for backdating schemes to harm the public's trust in the accounting of public companies.
However, we assume that non-cooperative actions harm the reputation and trust of the donor and recipient respectively.
The medical profession can, and should, adopt a zero-tolerance ethical stance based on a) the potential for harm to the patient with b) no offsetting potential benefits for the patient, combined with c) the inevitable harm to trust in the medical profession itself".
As she wrote last year in a piece for VICE about the mandated use of condoms, "For the love of everything that is even slightly rational and logical in the world, remember that no harm reduction can work without the trust and support of the people at risk".
