By Niket Nishant
(Reuters) – Billionaire fund manager Bill Ackman, who endorsed Donald Trump’s run for president, on Tuesday ratcheted up his pleas with Washington to hit pause on tariffs to stave off “a major global economic disruption.”
While tariffs are an essential tool for eliminating “unfair trading practices” by partners, implementing them without allowing time for agreements will do “unnecessary harm,” he said in a post on X, where he frequently comments on a range of issues.
A pause of 30, 60, or 90 days will prevent “a major global economic disruption that would harm the most vulnerable companies and citizens of our country,” Ackman added.
The comments reflect growing alarm in corporate America as the new trade barriers raise fears of global retaliation, a potential trade war, renewed inflation and an eventual recession.
Ackman is among a number of high-profile executives who have expressed concerns over Trump’s new tariff plan. If the “asymmetric tariff deals” are not resolved, they can lead to an “economic nuclear winter”, he has said.
The policy has also created tensions within Trump’s inner circle, notably between Elon Musk, head of the administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, and Peter Navarro, Trump’s top trade adviser who is widely seen as the architect of the tariff plans.
Still, the administration is holding firm and Trump’s “reciprocal tarifs” are set to go into effect on Wednesday.
“This coercive approach could backfire by prompting retaliatory measures, disrupting global value chains, and incentivizing long-term decoupling from U.S. markets,” the Center for Strategic and International Studies said on Tuesday.
In the two sessions after the tariff decision was unveiled on April 2, the S&P 500 tumbled 10.5%, erasing nearly $5 trillion in market value, marking its most significant two-day loss since March 2020.
(Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss; Editing by Anil D’Silva and Alan Barona)
