Business Leaders Voice Concerns About Tariffs

Some business leaders are reportedly voicing concerns about tariffs after seeing the impact the policy has had on the stock market.

They are doing so publicly after initially working through trade groups or in meetings with Trump administration officials, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Tuesday (April 8).

The report cited Ken Griffin of hedge fund firm Citadel calling tariffs a “huge policy mistake,” Bahram Akradi of fitness chain Life Time Group Holdings saying that “tariff is not a beautiful word,” and Ray Dalio of hedge fund firm Bridgewater Associates saying he is “very concerned” about the practicalities of tariffs even though he agrees that more manufacturing should be done in the U.S.

Some of the first business leaders to speak out were vocal Trump supporters, according to the report. They included hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, who said the tariffs are “destroying confidence in our country as a trading partner, as a place to do business, and as a market to invest capital,” and GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen, who said, “I can’t wait for my $10,000 made in the U.S.A. iPhone.”

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said in his annual letter to shareholders, published Monday (April 7), that the tariffs could dampen an economy that was “already weakening” because of their effect on confidence, investments, corporate profits, the U.S. dollar and retaliation by other countries.

“The quicker this issue is resolved, the better because some of the negative effects increase cumulatively over time and would be hard to reverse,” Dimon wrote. “In the short run, I see this as one large additional straw on the camel’s back.”

The White House issued a press release Monday saying that “everyday Americans, small business owners and industry leaders” support the administration’s trade actions.

“President Donald J. Trump is finally doing what politicians have refused to do for decades — fighting back against the one-sided war waged on American workers,” the release said. “As he puts into action his bold plan to reverse the decades of globalization that has decimated our industrial base, President Trump is putting the Forgotten Men and Women of America first.”