Billionaire Bill Ackman Begs Trump to Call '90 Day Time-Out' on Tariffs
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Billionaire investor Bill Ackman, a very public supporter of President Donald Trump who was out front during the 2024 campaign, begged the president on Sunday to delay his sweeping new tariff policy set to take effect this week, warning Sunday it could trigger an "economic nuclear war."
In a lengthy post on his X page, the hedge fund manager called for a 90-day pause to give time for negotiations and avoid a global loss of confidence in the US.
The tariffs, part of Trump's plan to rectify what he has classified as decades of wrongs in trade relationships, are scheduled to take effect on April 9.
"Business is a confidence game," Ackman wrote. "The president is losing the confidence of business leaders around the globe."
Ackman, the founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital, said he agrees with Trump's goal of fixing what he called a broken and unfair global tariff system.
But he warned that imposing massive tariffs on allies and adversaries risks freezing investment, damaging consumer confidence, and crushing the economy.
"If we go forward with this, markets will crash, consumers will stop spending, and companies will cut investment and jobs," Ackman wrote.
He also warned that small and mid-sized businesses would be hit the hardest as they would be unable to absorb increases in their operating costs.
Ackman also said the country is on the verge of losing its reputation as a reliable trade partner and place to invest. "This is not what we voted for," he said. The billionaire former Democrat's full statement reads:
The country is 100% behind the president on fixing a global system of tariffs that has disadvantaged the country. But, business is a confidence game and confidence depends on trust.
President @realDonaldTrump has elevated the tariff issue to the most important geopolitical issue in the world, and he has gotten everyone's attention. So far, so good.
And yes, other nations have taken advantage of the U.S. by protecting their home industries at the expense of millions of our jobs and economic growth in our country.
But, by placing massive and disproportionate tariffs on our friends and our enemies alike and thereby launching a global economic war against the whole world at once, we are in the process of destroying confidence in our country as a trading partner, as a place to do business, and as a market to invest capital.
The president has an opportunity to call a 90-day time out, negotiate and resolve unfair asymmetric tariff deals, and induce trillions of dollars of new investment in our country.
If, on the other hand, on April 9th we launch economic nuclear war on every country in the world, business investment will grind to a halt, consumers will close their wallets and pocket books, and we will severely damage our reputation with the rest of the world that will take years and potentially decades to rehabilitate.
What CEO and what board of directors will be comfortable making large, long-term, economic commitments in our country in the middle of an economic nuclear war?
I don't know of one who will do so.
When markets crash, new investment stops, consumers stop spending money, and businesses have no choice but to curtail investment and fire workers.
And it is not just the big companies that will suffer. Small and medium size businesses and entrepreneurs will experience much greater pain. Almost no business can pass through an overnight massive increase in costs to their customers. And that's true even if they have no debt, and, unfortunately, there is a massive amount of leverage in the system.
Business is a confidence game. The president is losing the confidence of business leaders around the globe. The consequences for our country and the millions of our citizens who have supported the president — in particular low-income consumers who are already under a huge amount of economic stress — are going to be severely negative. This is not what we voted for.
The President has an opportunity on Monday to call a time out and have the time to execute on fixing an unfair tariff system.
Alternatively, we are heading for a self-induced, economic nuclear winter, and we should start hunkering down.
May cooler heads prevail.
Ackman has been a high-profile supporter of Trump in recent months. After first endorsing Robert F. Kennedy Jr. last year, he backed Trump citing issues such as antisemitism and identity politics.
Last Thursday, he generated headlines when he wrote on X, "Sometimes the best strategy in a negotiation is convincing the other side that you are crazy."
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People like him think Trump can be persuaded to act with measure and thought.
Where has this guy been for the last 10 years ?
Other countries no longer trust the United States, and it is all because of Trump and his enablers.
It already has.
I guess that the amount of attention Trump will pay to Ackman is determined by how much money Ackman spent on his campaign. After all, look what Musk bought with his donation.
Trump is bound to stay the course because a few weak nations have capitulated. But Trump's war has already been engaged by Canada, China and soon will be by the EU.
One of the critical failures of Trump supporters is believing that Trump knows what he is doing.
Amen to that Bill.
As if Trump doing a 180 on the tariffs would remedy that.
"The country is 100% behind the president on fixing a global system of tariffs that has disadvantaged the country. But, business is a confidence game and confidence depends on trust......President @realDonaldTrump has elevated the tariff issue to the most important geopolitical issue in the world, and he has gotten everyone's attention. So far, so good.......And yes, other nations have taken advantage of the U.S. by protecting their home industries at the expense of millions of our jobs and economic growth in our country."
Sounds like Ackman is having a temporary relapse back into the Democrat way of thinking. Way too much hysteria and panic setting in on people who should know better. Trump is serious about this and is being blunt in way of catching their attention> I suspect we will see a lot of negotiations get going next week and beyond,
One of the things I enjoy about NT is the comedy relief we get now and then to give us a laugh on a serious subject.
Um, no. LOL
double lol
Trump be calling, "CALF ROPE!"
Trump claims to have won 32 golf tournaments.
It wouldnt surprise me if 32 is the number he has ever been entered in.
It wouldn't suprise me if 32 is 3x his IQ.
In all 32, he was the only golfer.
You clearly don’t know golfers. Our their claims.
I golf twice a week...10 HDCP...ask my drunk buddies, they'll tell ya...
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Trump said he would lower prices on day one. When day one came around Trump said how difficult it is to lower prices once they go up. Now, Trump's so-called economic policies are going to drive prices through the roof, but he and his sycophants are telling us how this is going to make prices go down. Yeah, we believe you.
Is that that new math?
Hedge fund managers. I thought they were all evil. We are listening to them now?
Why are we listening to a man who was s-o-o-o wrong, so recently?
OK... he said "My bad". He did not explain why he had been so wrong, and how he would avoid making the same sort of mistake in the future.
So... why are we listening to him?
We're not
Rather than follow Ackerman's advice, Trump just said he's going to add more tariffs to China. It's like pouring jet fuel on a dumpster a forest fire.
"People were getting, I didn't know, a little squeamish" - Trump