Some of President Trump’s prominent backers in the business community are sounding the alarm on his rollout of reciprocal tariffs and the resulting market fallout.
Outspoken billionaire investor Bill Ackman, who endorsed the president last July following the assassination attempt on Trump, said in a lengthy post on X late Sunday that, barring Trump calling a “time out” on his tariffs plans, we could be headed for an “economic nuclear winter.”
“The President has an opportunity on Monday to call a time out and have the time to execute on fixing an unfair tariff system,” Ackman wrote.
“Alternatively, we are heading for a self-induced, economic nuclear winter, and we should start hunkering down.
“May cooler heads prevail.”
In his post, Ackman argued the US is “100% behind the president on fixing a global system of tariffs that has disadvantaged the country.”
“But,” Ackman added, “business is a confidence game and confidence depends on trust.”
On Sunday evening, stock futures were pointing to a third day of sharp losses after the S&P 500 (^GSPC) fell over 10% across Thursday and Friday’s trading sessions, while the Nasdaq (^IXIC) entered a bear market.
Trump’s reciprocal tariff announcements on Wednesday, dubbed “Liberation Day” by the White House, surprised investors and exceeded most Wall Street forecasts. Initial estimates put the combined tariff rate on all US imports well north of 20%, which would be the highest in over a century.
Wall Street strategists have slashed their forecasts for the stock market in response to Trump’s tariff plan and at least one firm has called for the US to enter recession this year as a result.
Ackman said Trump’s rollout of these tariffs has set in motion a “process of destroying confidence in our country as a trading partner, as a place to do business, and as a market to invest capital.”
Instead, Ackman is calling on Trump to institute a 90-day time out to begin negotiations on “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,” Ackman wrote, “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?”
