One of the Republican Party’s top donors is sounding the alarm that President Donald Trump’s tariffs could open the door for corruption.
“Tariffs open the doors to crony capitalism. The government starts to pick winners and losers,” Ken Griffin, billionaire founder of the hedge fund Citadel, told Politico. “I thought that would play out over the course of years. It’s terrifying to watch this play out over the course of weeks,” he added.
Trump is promising that his sweeping levies on imports into the U.S. will be a boon for domestic manufacturing. Griffin cautioned, however, that the sporadic nature of these tariffs, with certain products and industries subject to exemptions, make it “very clear that we have roughly already — regretfully — unleashed an era of crony capitalism,” he said.
A longtime critic of the president, Griffin had initially changed his tune for Trump 2.0. “I voted for him,” he said onstage at the DealBook Summit in December. “Now we have a chance to govern,” he added. That honeymoon period is now over, indicating a wider souring toward the president on Wall Street and across corporate America.
Griffin voiced concerns that Trump’s trade war could upend the economy, as U.S. businesses face higher costs and diminished flows of capital — leaving consumers to also foot the bill.
“Whether it’s a flat-screen TV or a new laptop, your dollar is just not going to go as far,” he said. “This starts unfolding in the next couple weeks.”
Last month, Griffin also cautioned that Trump’s economic agenda was denting trust in the U.S. dollar and government bonds.
“In the financial markets, no brand compared to the brand of the U.S. Treasury market, the strength of the U.S. dollar. The strength, the credit worthiness of U.S. Treasurys, no brand came close. We put that brand at risk,” Griffin said at Semafor’s World Economy Summit in Washington, D.C.
Griffin has long been an influential voice in GOP circles. His donations to Republican causes between 2020 and 2024 exceeded $200 million, solidifying his position as one of the most influential conservative megadonors.
But his revived scrutiny of Trump is ruffling feathers in the White House, Politico reports.
“I think that they’re frustrated that much of what I said is self-evident,” Griffin said on his relationship with Trump officials. “It’s been a moment in time where I think people have been reluctant to raise their voices, and I think that the debate is key.”