Ken Griffin Takes Donald Trump to Task on Tariffs

The business community hasn’t had many outspoken critics of Donald Trump early in his second term, but when Ken Griffin speaks, people listen.

The Citadel founder and chief executive officer voiced frustration over the president’s tariff policies during an appearance at a UBS conference in Miami on Tuesday, Yahoo Finance reported. Griffin has said he voted for Trump in November, but didn’t donate to his campaign.

“From my vantage point, the bombastic rhetoric, the damage has already been done, and it’s a huge mistake to resort to this form of rhetoric when you’re trying to drive a bargain, because it like imprints, it sears into the minds of CEOs, policymakers,” Griffin said at the conference.

He added that the “uncertainty and chaos created by the tariff dynamics between us and our allies is an impediment to growth,” bemoaning how multinationals won’t know how to plan for the coming years amid the upheaval.

Tariffs have been one of the more prominent policy talking points in the first weeks of the Trump administration. This week, Trump announced a plan to tax foreign steel and aluminum imports by 25 percent, a proposal destined to roil allies and trade partners, as well as the manufacturing and homebuilding industries.

Trump also instituted additional 10 percent tariffs on Chinese goods and almost put a 25 percent tariff on goods from Mexico and Canada, before pulling back at the last second following agreements with the country’s neighbors. He’s promised reciprocal tariffs in the near future, ostensibly designed to equalize what the president deems to be trade imbalances.

The tariffs contribute to concerns that inflation will rise again and that the cost of living for Americans will increase.

— Holden Walter-Warner