Wall Street titans, including some of President Trump‘s wealthy allies, are publicly urging caution as the president’s historic tariffs tank stock markets globally.
The big picture: The administration is plowing forward with its sweeping tariffs despite warnings from economists and MAGA-friendly CEOs that the levies will fire inflation and hinder growth, setting the stage for a recession.
- The levies even exposed a line that administration ally and Tesla CEO Elon Musk seemingly won’t cross.
Zoom in: With global markets sinking even further Sunday night, Trump likened the tariff-induced pain to taking “medicine.”
- The administration’s economic forces took to cable news Sunday to deliver an (at times) unified message that Americans are less concerned about market fluctuations than the media is.
- But no spoonful of sugar from the White House seems to be helping CEOs, investors and politicians swallow “medicine” that hedge fund manager Bill Ackman says could trigger a global “economic nuclear winter.”
Here is what some CEOs have said about the president’s tariffs:
Elon Musk
DOGE conductor Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, has taken a multi-billion-dollar blow to his Tesla stock.
- At an Italian political event Saturday, Musk called for more free trade, envisioning “a zero-tariff situation” between the U.S. and Europe.
Zoom out: He also publicly sniped at Trump tariff advocate Peter Navarro, contending his “PhD in Econ from Harvard is a bad thing, not a good thing.”
- Navarro struck back on Fox’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” saying Musk “doesn’t understand” how other countries are “cheating.”
- Navarro added, “He’s simply protecting his own interests, as any businessperson would do.”
Bill Ackman
Ackman, a Trump backer, urged the president “to call a 90-day time out” on Wednesday’s reciprocal tariffs to negotiate.
- If he doesn’t, the hedge fund manager wrote Sunday, “we are heading for a self-induced, economic nuclear winter, and we should start hunkering down.”
- Ackman warned that business is “a confidence game” and “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.”
Jamie Dimon
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon warned in an annual letter Monday that tariffs will fuel inflation and slow growth in an already weakening U.S. economy, Axios’ Ben Berkowitz reports.
- The quicker the issue is resolved, the better, he wrote, warning of difficult-to-reverse negative impacts compounding with time.
- “In the short run, I see this as one large additional straw on the camel’s back,” he added.
Flashback: While Dimon reportedly supported Vice President Kamala Harris, he echoed some Trump talking points in a January interview with CBS, Axios’ Felix Salmon reported.
Stanley Druckenmiller
Billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller, who very rarely tweets, posted Sunday that he does not support tariffs “exceeding 10%” in response to a clip of an interview he gave CNBC earlier this year.
- In the interview, the Duquesne Family Office founder called tariffs “a consumption tax.” He warned of retaliation but said, “as long as we stay in the 10% range … I think the risks are overblown relative to the rewards.”
Yes, but: Trump levied tariffs of at least 10% on virtually the entire world.
Howard Marks
Howard Marks, the co-founder of hedge fund Oaktree Capital, told Bloomberg Trump’s tariffs brought on the “biggest change in the environment” he’s observed in his career.
- “We should not underestimate the benefits that we’ve gotten from globalization,” he added.
- “Tariffs are an increased cost,” Marks said. “Somebody has to pay them.”
Daniel Loeb
Hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb shared Marks’ and Druckenmiller’s comments on his own social media feed, where he also said there were potential conceptual and practical errors in the tariff policy.
- “It will be a test of the administration’s judgment versus ideology how they resolve this over the weekend or coming days,” he wrote Saturday.
Go deeper: Behind the Curtain: Trump’s dark opening to Golden Age
