Thomas Daniels
The founder of Pershing Square Capital Management and a prominent advocate for the cryptocurrency industry following the collapse of FTX, billionaire investor Bill Ackman, has hinted that President Donald Trump would delay the imposition of new tariffs. Ackman contends that the President would have more time to negotiate better trade agreements as a result of the delay.
One would have to think that President Donald Trump’s phone has been ringing nonstop, Ackman said in a statement on April 5. Practically speaking, he won’t have enough time to negotiate before the tariffs are set to go into force. “Therefore, I wouldn’t be shocked to wake up Monday to hear the President announce that he was delaying the imposition of the tariffs to give him time to negotiate,” he continued.
A broad 10% baseline tariff on all imports went into effect on April 5 as a result of the executive order that Trump signed on April 2. More stringent reciprocal tariffs targeting nations with significant trade imbalances were set to start on April 9.
Ackman is still a champion for a crypto-inclusive economy, having stated in November 2022 that “crypto is here to stay.” Citing a decades-long “unfair tariff regime” that is harmful to American workers and the economy as a whole, he supported the need for Trump’s tariffs.
The market’s early reaction was tumultuous. The S&P 500 fell more than 6% on April 4, causing a sharp sell-off in U.S. equity markets that outstripped the present value of the cryptocurrency market. Curiously, both supporters and detractors of the asset class have pointed out that cryptocurrencies showed a fair amount of resiliency throughout this time.
Well-known business leaders have openly backed Trump’s trade policies, such as Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX, and Cameron Winklevoss, co-founder of Gemini.
Ackman also underlined that companies of all sizes would gain from a strategic pause since it would enable them to better prepare for the impending legislative change. He cautioned, “The risk of not doing so is that the economy enters a recession, possibly a severe one, due to the massive increase in uncertainty.”
The enormous stakes of Trump’s changing trade policy are highlighted by his conclusion that April 7 may turn out to be “one of the more interesting days” in recent U.S. economic history.
