in World News Ignore Bill Ackman’s concerns; Trump’s economic plans are genius
By Andrea Widburg
Bill Ackman was a big Democrat donor who turned on his party when he saw the virulent antisemitism at its heart. He then threw his weight behind Trump, and good for him for doing so. However, he’s really struggling with Trump’s tariff policies and has said so on his huge platform. He shouldn’t worry, though. Not only will Trump not break the economy, but his plans are absolutely genius and will save America.
First, Bill Ackman’s message:
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.
President @realDonaldTrump has elevated the tariff issue to the most important geopolitical…
— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) April 6, 2025
It’s long, so I’ll leave it to you to click the “Show more” link rather than clogging the post with his message. Basically, while really trying to support Trump, Ackman says Trump should stop the tariffs for 90 days because no foreign country will ever trust America again, and CEOs and boards of directors will freeze in their tracks.
To the first point, America is the world’s single largest consumer of most countries’ exported goods. These countries know that their customer base is not going anywhere. Americans want to buy their products.
The only thing standing in the way of American consumers is the foreign countries’ trade policies (which, incidentally, impose on America significantly higher tariffs than Trump just imposed on them). If they drop their tariffs against America, Trump will drop his tariffs against them.
In other words, ending the tariff war is entirely within their control. That’s why countries are already reaching out in the dozens to renegotiate trade deals with America, including the EU. This “trade war” will rank not far behind the Anglo-Zanzibar War (38-45 minutes) as one of the shortest wars in recorded history.
The first point answers the second point: People running corporations will look at which way the wind is blowing…and it will blow in America’s favor. Again, we are a ginormous market, and, really importantly, since Trump took office, our economic indicators are exploding in the right direction. Here are the obvious ones:
According to Friday’s employment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the U.S. economy added 228,000 jobs in March, compared to 117,000 in February, which was revised down from an initial estimate of 151,000.
The reading significantly exceeds the consensus forecast of analysts, compiled by Trading Economics, who had anticipated only 135,000 jobs being added in March.
This means people will have paying jobs that will help them afford any increase the tariffs cause.
Crude oil prices are falling fast:
Oil prices kept falling early Monday; investors fear a trade war will clobber the global economy and sink demand for crude oil.
- U.S. crude futures dropped more than 4% to below $59 a barrel, after falling 14% over two sessions to end last week.
- Brent crude, the global benchmark, also fell more than 4%.