Billionaire investor Bill Ackman and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, warned Sunday that President Donald Trump‘s sweeping tariff policies are damaging market confidence during a historic global selloff.
What Happened: “To state the obvious, it does not help our country’s and our president’s negotiating position to be trying to strike deals while our market is collapsing,” Ackman posted on X. “Whoever is recommending that idea to President Donald Trump should be fired now.”
When challenged that a 5% market dip demonstrated U.S. seriousness, Ackman replied, “It is going to be a lot more than 5%.”
U.S. stock futures continued plummeting Sunday evening, with Dow futures falling over 1,000 points (3.26%) and Nasdaq futures dropping 4.60%. The selloff follows the S&P 500, tracked by SPDR S&P 500‘s SPY worst performance since March 2020, plunging 6% Friday and pushing its two-day losses past 10%.
To state the obvious, it does not help our country’s and our president’s negotiating position to be trying to strike deals while our market is collapsing.
Whoever is recommending that idea to President @realDonaldTrump should be fired now.
— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) April 6, 2025
Why It Matters: Ackman, who endorsed Trump in the 2024 election, called for a 90-day pause on tariff implementation to allow for negotiations. He warned of an “economic nuclear winter” if current policies persist, particularly impacting low-income consumers already under economic stress.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has defended the administration’s stance, attributing the selloff to overvalued technology stocks rather than tariff policy. “This isn’t about tariffs, it’s about a dose of reality in the AI space,” Bessent claimed.
Trump showed little concern about market losses on Sunday, stating, “I don’t want anything to go down, but sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something.”
Meanwhile, venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya suggested traditional market rescue mechanisms may no longer be politically viable, noting “the bottom 50% of Americans have zero interest in the stock market.”
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