Billionaires and business leaders Jamie Dimon and Bill Ackman cautioned against Donald Trump’s tariffs and its impact on the global economy as the trade war escalated affecting the stock markets across globe.
Global markets reeled from the impact of tariff, and the turbulence extended to Wall Street as US markets opened to a sharp downturn on Monday. The announcement of reciprocal tariffs triggered a broad sell-off across major financial markets in Asia and Europe, fueling fears among investors.
Ackman, a Trump supported, urged the US president to “call a 90-day time out, negotiate and resolve unfair asymmetric tariff deals, and induce trillions of dollars of new investment in our country.”
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon cautioned about the economic hardships that could result from Trump-era tariffs, while also acknowledging that there are “of course” valid reasons behind the move.
Trump, however, dismissed the concerns and said that the “big business” were not worried about the tariff impact.
“Big business is not worried about the Tariffs, because they know they are here to stay, but they are focused on the BIG, BEAUTIFUL DEAL, which will SUPERCHARGE our Economy. Very important. Going on right now!!!” he said.
Ackman cites error in tariff calculation formula
Calling out on Trump’s advisers to “acknowledge their error”, Ackman said, “The formula used by the administration to calculate tariffs made other nations’ tariffs appear four times larger than they actually are.”
“The President’s advisors need to acknoledge their error before April 9th and make a course correction before the President makes a big mistake based on bad math,” he said.
In another post, he said that the tariff move was a “self-induced, economic nuclear winter, and we should start hunkering down”.
“When markets crash, new investment stops, consumers stop spending money, and businesses have no choice but to curtail investment and fire workers,” he said.
“And it is not just the big companies that will suffer. Small and medium size businesses and entrepreneurs will experience much greater pain. Almost no business can pass through an overnight massive increase in costs to their customers. And that’s true even if they have no debt, and, unfortunately, there is a massive amount of leverage in the system,” he added.
‘Tariffs will slow down growth’
In a 60-page annual letter addressed to his shareholders, Jamie Dimon said, “Whether or not the menu of tariffs causes a recession remains in question, but it will slow down growth.”
“We are likely to see inflationary outcomes, not only on imported goods but on domestic prices, as input costs rise and demand increases on domestic products,” he added.
Dimon pointed to the unpredictability of possible retaliatory measures, fluctuating investor confidence, impacts on corporate earnings, and volatility in the US dollar. “The quicker this issue is resolved, the better,” he said.
He, however, did not mention Trump directly in the letter.
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