Billionaire hedge fund investor Bill Ackman has issued a strong warning that the United States could face a self-inflicted “economic nuclear winter” due to President Donald Trump’s tariff policies.
Ackman, in a social media post, expressed concern that Trump’s tariff approach is losing the confidence of global business leaders. According to Ackman, when businesses lose confidence, it can lead to negative consequences for the entire economy.
“Business is a confidence game,” Ackman posted on X, adding that the tariffs are pushing the U.S. further from becoming a trusted global trade partner. “The president is losing the confidence of business leaders around the globe.”
Ackman added: “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,”
Ackman, who endorsed Trump during the presidential campaign, said the tariff measures could also severely harm the U.S. economy. He believes the hardest-hit will be low-income consumers, many of whom are already struggling financially.
“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,” Ackman urged.
He suggested that Trump consider a temporary break from the tariff strategy—a “90-day timeout”—to negotiate better trade deals to solve the “asymmetric tariff deals and induce trillions of dollars of new investment in our country.”
Ackman warned that if the U.S. continues its tariff war, investment will stop, consumers will spend less, and businesses will be forced to cut jobs, leading to a long-term economic downturn, and added that, “we will severely damage our reputation with the rest of the world that will take years and potentially decades to rehabilitate,” reported The Hill.
The hedge fund manager predicts that tariffs will drive up prices for goods and services, a problem that Trump’s advisors have downplayed. Ackman also pointed out that the economic pain wouldn’t only affect big corporations but also small businesses and entrepreneurs. He emphasized that the consequences could harm Trump’s supporters the most.
“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,” he pointed out.
Commerce Secretary Under Fire
In a separate post on X, Ackman slammed U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick who could profit financially if the economy collapses. He called the Commerce Secretary’s role in government a conflict of interest, pointing out that Lutnick’s business interests could cause him to profit from the very economic crisis that the tariffs could create.
“I just figured out why @howardlutnick is indifferent to the stock market and the economy crashing. He and Cantor are long bonds. He profits when our economy implodes. It’s a bad idea to pick a Secretary of Commerce whose firm is levered long fixed income. It’s an irreconcilable conflict of interest,” Ackman said.
Market Reacts
The stock market has already reacted negatively to Trump’s tariff plans, with major U.S. indexes seeing significant losses. On Sunday evening, stock futures were down ahead of the Monday market opening. Last week, U.S. stocks dropped nearly 9%, with some experts now predicting a 60% chance of a recession by the end of the year, up from previous estimates of 40%.
Trump’s Tariff Impact
Trump’s latest round of tariffs, which took effect last Wednesday, include a 10% levy on all imports, affecting over 180 countries, with China facing the highest tariffs. Since January, the Trump administration has imposed a 54% tariff on Chinese goods, while China retaliated with its own 34% tariffs on U.S. imports, CNBC reported.
