Jewish-American billionaire fund manager Bill Ackman has issued a stark warning that the world stands on the precipice of a "self-induced economic nuclear winter" while urging US President Donald Trump to reconsider his extensive tariff plans, the New York Post reported. The prominent investor made his appeal through a lengthy X post published Sunday evening.
Ackman implored the president to call for a "time out" to reassess the implementation of his tariff strategy. "The President has an opportunity on Monday to call a time out and have the time to execute on fixing an unfair tariff system. Alternatively, we are heading for a self-induced, economic nuclear winter, and we should start hunkering down," Ackman wrote in his social media statement.
Ackman, while acknowledging widespread support for addressing unfair trade practices, expressed grave concerns about the potential economic fallout. "The country is 100% behind the president on fixing a global system of tariffs that has disadvantaged the country. But, business is a confidence game and confidence depends on trust," the investment manager explained in his post.
The fund manager recognized legitimate trade grievances but warned against the current approach. "And yes, other nations have taken advantage of the US by protecting their home industries at the expense of millions of our jobs and economic growth in our country," Ackman continued in his message, adding, "But, by placing massive and disproportionate tariffs on our friends and our enemies alike and thereby launching a global economic war against the whole world at once, 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."
In his appeal for a 90-day pause, Ackman emphasized the need to renegotiate what he termed "unfair asymmetric tariff deals." The investor cautioned that initiating an "economic nuclear war" would paralyze business activities and consumer spending.
Ackman shared his concerns about corporate decision-making in such an environment. "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?" he questioned in his post.
"When markets crash, new investment stops, consumers stop spending money, and businesses have no choice but to curtail investment and fire workers. And it is not just the big companies that will suffer. Small and medium-sized businesses and entrepreneurs will experience much greater pain. Almost no business can pass through an overnight massive increase in costs to their customers," Ackman warned, painting a bleak picture of the economic consequences if the tariffs proceed as planned.
The fund manager specifically addressed the potential impact on Trump's supporter base. "The consequences for our country and the millions of our citizens who have supported the president — in particular low-income consumers who are already under a huge amount of economic stress — are going to be severely negative. This is not what we voted for," the billionaire stated.
While Trump has consistently portrayed the tariffs as a negotiating tool to enhance US trade relations and generate revenue, he has recently hinted that these substantial levies might become permanent, raising fears of a full-scale trade war. Ackman's dire forecast coincided with Monday's continued decline in global financial markets following Trump's warning that foreign governments would need to pay "a lot of money" to lift the tariffs, which he characterized as "medicine."
