Billionaire Trump Supporter Sounds Alarm Over 'Economic Nuclear Winter' Due to Tariffs

A billionaire supporter of Donald Trump has urged the president to delay his recently announced trade tariffs, warning of a "self-induced, economic nuclear winter."

The volatility of markets prompted Bill Ackman to advise President Trump to offer three months of negotiation time for foreign countries to modify their US trade agreements.

A day after Bill Ackman raised his concerns, the JPMorgan Chase chairman Jamie Dimon shared public remarks that President Trump's tariffs would increase consumer costs.

President Trump maintains his position on new import taxes even though the market experiences turmoil because according to him "you need medicinal treatments to address problems."

The president argues that this move will help America through new employment opportunities so it can draw in capital yet economic analysts project this action might result in higher costs for the U.S. population and produce trade conflicts.

On Monday, share prices in Europe and Asia continued to fall as markets reacted to the broad global tariffs announced by Trump last week.

In a post on X on Sunday, Ackman acknowledged Trump’s argument that the global trade system had "disadvantaged" the US.

However, he argued that the tariffs were "massive and disproportionate," failing to differentiate between American allies and adversaries.

Ackman, the billionaire founder of Pershing Square Capital Management, became a prominent supporter of Trump, a Republican, in July 2024, despite his prior backing of the rival Democratic Party. His endorsement was seen as a significant political gesture from the business community.

In his announcements last week, Trump introduced a 10% "baseline" tariff on imports to the US, with some countries, including major manufacturing hubs in Asia, facing higher rates of up to 50%.

Many countries have pledged to retaliate, and China has already implemented its own tariffs on US imports.

Ackman commented that Trump had launched "an economic war against the whole world at once," potentially undermining investor confidence in the US.

He added that Trump now had "the chance to call a 90-day timeout, negotiate and resolve unfair, asymmetric tariff deals, and attract trillions of dollars in new investment into our country."

His post on Sunday suggested that it was now up to Trump to act, following an earlier message on X urging other world leaders to "pick up the phone" and negotiate a deal with Trump.

As global stock markets continued their decline on Monday, JPMorgan Chase's CEO also weighed in, warning of "many uncertainties" surrounding the new tariff policies.

In a letter to shareholders, Mr. Dimon stated that the tariffs were "likely to increase inflation and are leading many to consider a higher chance of a recession."

He added, "The sooner this issue is addressed, the better, as the negative effects can accumulate over time and become difficult to reverse."

Trump's officials have downplayed the risk of a recession. The baseline 10% tariff is already in effect, with the higher rates for certain countries set to take effect on Wednesday.

On Sunday, speaking aboard Air Force One, Trump said that European and Asian countries were "eager to make a deal."