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President-elect Donald Trump has promised to slap foreign imports with a wide range of tariffs, making Citadel CEO Ken Griffin “very anxious.”
The billionaire hedge fund manager made his comments on Monday at the Oxford Union in the U.K., where he said that tariffs are a “long, slippery slope” that can bring profits in the short term but could make it difficult for American companies to compete in the long term.
“I am very anxious about the president’s willingness to engage in tariffs as a matter of trade policy,” Griffin said, Bloomberg News reported.
Trump has repeatedly insisted on enacting a variety of tariffs, touting the duties as a way of protecting U.S. consumers and companies despite a lack of evidence supporting that. On the campaign trail, Trump proposed raising duties on imports from China by as much as 50%, while adding duties of 10% to 20% against products from the rest of the world. He’s also talked about a “100% tariff” on countries that “leave” the U.S. dollar and tariffs of as much as 2,000% on foreign-made vehicles.
Read More: The Trump tariffs are coming for wine. American restaurants could die
Combined, his proposals could add between $1,700 to $7,600 in annual costs to American households and outweigh the effects of any tax cuts he’d institute for 95% of American households. The National Retail Federation (NRF) expects consumers to lose between $46 billion and $78 billion in annual spending power because of Trump’s proposed tariffs.
That’s partially because businesses are expected to largely pass along the cost of the duties, which are expected to make the cost of goods produced along key supply chains more expensive for a variety of industries. No sector or industry would be left untouched — and everything from cars and couches to cribs and wine would be made more expensive.
Although Griffin didn’t explicitly support Trump during the 2024 election, he donated more than $100 million during the 2024 election cycle, mostly to Republican Senate and House candidates. He supported former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in the GOP primaries and expressed dissatisfaction with both Trump and Democratic rival Vice President Kamala Harris in October.
On Monday, he said that instead of dealing with “regulatory overreach,” businesses will “return” to creating jobs and growing over the next four years. Griffin added that he hopes Trump’s administration will scale back the size and scope of the federal government.
Last week, Trump appointed Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, a failed presidential candidate, and billionaire entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a commission tasked with making recommendations on slashing federal spending. Musk has targeted cutting $2 trillion from the budget, which could mean cuts to programs like Social Security.
Griffin also expressed some concerns with Trump’s plans to deport millions of undocumented immigrants. On Monday, the president-elect confirmed that he would declare a national emergency and use military assets to deport as many as 11 million people.
“I do not know how to do that as either a humanitarian justification or economic justification,” Griffin said, adding that he doesn’t understand how the government could deport “the people who have come to our country who are gainfully employed, who are contributing to our economy.”
According to the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE), some 8.3 million undocumented immigrants participate in the economy. Many of them work in a variety of industries, such as the construction and restaurant industries, according to the Center for Migration Studies. As of 2021, almost 1.7 million undocumented immigrants are estimated to participate in the U.S. food supply chain.
“I think we need to arrive at a more thoughtful immigration policy than just deporting millions of Americans,” Griffin said.