Wall Street Leaders Finally Turn on Trump’s Tariffs

Wall Street titans had been oddly silent about Trump tariffs—until they became real. Amid market turmoil brought on by the President’s “Liberation Day” tariffs, a growing trickle of prominent bank CEOs and investors are raising the alarm on how these levies could cause irreparable harm to the global economy. Even established Trump supporters, such as Citadel CEO Ken Griffin and Pershing Square founder Bill Ackman, are vocalizing concerns about the potential fallout.

Here’s a look at what Wall Street’s most prominent leaders are saying:

Ken Griffin: “A huge policy mistake.”

Ken Griffin, a major Republican donor, called Trump’s tariffs a “huge policy mistake” while speaking at the University of Miami event yesterday (April 7). Griffin estimated that it could take 20 years for the tariffs to actually bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. “It’s not 20 weeks. It’s not two years. It’s decades,” he stressed. But before then, the levies will raise the cost of groceries, appliances and vehicles for middle- and lower-class families.

The speech mark a departure from Griffin’s previous comments on Trump’s tariff policy, which he claimed wasn’t a particularly important business issue. “I am really afraid of us abdicating our role of leadership for the free world,” said Griffin yesterday. “That’s the path we’re on.”

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon: “Disastrous in the long term.”

Economic fragmentation caused by the tariffs could be “disastrous in the long run,” said JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon in his latest annual letter to shareholders. He warned that the levies will increase inflation and potentially lead to a recession, and he urged for negotiations to take place sooner rather than later. “America First is fine, as long as it doesn’t end up being America alone,” Dimon wrote.

Dimon reportedly supported Kamala Harris during the 2024 Presidential election, the banking CEO has previously defended Trump’s tariff policy. In January, he called tariffs as an effective negotiation tactic and advised people to “get over it.”

Bill Ackman: “An economic war against the whole world.”

Bill Ackman, head of the hedge fund Pershing Square and one of Wall Street’s loudest supporters of Trump, has changed his tune. “We are heading for a self-induced, economic nuclear winter,” said Ackman in a series of X posts over the weekend. He described the levies as akin to “launching a global economic war against the whole world at once.”

The hedge fund manager today (April 8) said that some of his comments on tariffs have been “misinterpreted” and noted that he still supports tariffs as a tool for negotiation. But he reiterated his call for a pause of up to 90 days before the tariffs come into effect to allow for negotiation.

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink: We are already in a recession.

According to Larry Fink, the CEO of BlackRock, an economic downturn in the U.S. is already taking place and will only continue to escalate. “The economy is weakening as we speak,” said Fink yesterday while speaking at the Economic Club of New York. “Most CEOs I talk to would say we are probably in a recession right now,” he added.

Fink alluded to America’s economic uncertainty in his annual shareholder letter last week. “I hear it from nearly every client, nearly every leader—nearly every person—I talk to: They’re more anxious about the economy than any time in recent memory,” he wrote.

Oaktree Capital Management co-chairman Howard Marks: The world is “completely in flux.”

Much of the economic benefits reaped over the past eight decades can be attributed to the growth of global trade, said Howard Marks during a Bloomberg TV interview on April 4. Now, the state of the world “is completely in flux,” he said.

“We’ve gone from free trade and world trade and globalization to this system, which implies significant restrictions on trade in every direction and a step toward isolation for the United States,” he added.

Third Point Capital CEO Daniel Loeb: “A test of the administration’s judgement versus ideology.”

Last October, Daniel Loeb praised Trump’s economic policy and said his tariffs would have a positive impact on the market. He isn’t so sure now. On April 5, he reposted an article on X from the conservative think-tank American Enterprise Institute that criticizes the formula the administration used to calculate the tariffs.

“Thoughtful piece on potential conceptual as well as practical errors that went into the announced tariff policy,” said Loeb of the report. “It will be a test of the administration’s judgement versus ideology how they resolve this over the weekend or coming days.”

Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio: “This is going to create great sand in the gears.”

While hedge fund billionaire Ray Dalio agrees that the U.S. has a problem to fix when it comes to domestic manufacturing, he doesn’t believe tariffs are the answer. “I agree with the problem. I am very concerned about the solution, the practicality of the solution,” he told CNBC in an interview published today.

The levies will see company costs rise and their revenue plunge, said the Bridgewater Associates founder. “This is going to create great sand in the gears of production worldwide,” he added.

Duquense Capital founder Stanley Druckenmiller

Stanley Druckenmiller, a longtime Republican, is turning against the levies. “I do not support tariffs exceeding 10 percent,” said the billionaire investor in an X post on April 6. Druckenmiller has close ties to the Trump administration, having acted as the boss of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent when the two worked at George Soros’ hedge fund.