Billionaire investor Ken Griffin said President Trump’s trade war has “devolved into a nonsensical place,” as markets seesaw in response to the latest signals from the White House.
Griffin, the founder and CEO of Citadel, told Semafor’s World Economy Summit on Wednesday that fellow executives were looking forward to parts of Trump’s agenda, such as not having to navigate new regulations, Bloomberg reported.
“Unfortunately, the trade war, which has devolved into a nonsensical place, means we’re spending time thinking about supply chains,” Griffin said.
Griffin has in the past criticized Trump, but said during the event that the administration’s efforts to crack down on immigration and to cut wasteful government spending were good things. He said Trump’s tariff moves were also well intended.
“President Trump has an incredibly good sense of where problems lie,” Griffin said. “But we’re moving too quickly, we’re moving too haphazardly, and we’re breaking a lot of glass in trying to solve some very real problems.”
U.S. stock markets have fluctuated wildly in recent weeks amid Trump’s tariff rollout.
Markets closed with solid gains on Tuesday after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reportedly told investors he foresaw a “de-escalation” in trade tensions between the U.S. and China.
On Wednesday, Bessent said there was an opportunity for a deal with China, another signal the administration is softening its stance on trade with the country. Trump too has said tariffs on China will come down from their current 145 percent on many products.
Griffin warned that Trump is putting the U.S. brand “at risk” with the trade war, and cautioned that it could be counterproductive to the administration’s goals of bringing manufacturing back to the United States.
“People are not going to race to build manufacturing in America,” he said. “With the policy volatility, you actually undermine the very goal you’re trying to achieve.”
As Trump and his top officials express confidence about negotiations with other countries, Republican lawmakers are concerned the trade war will hurt them in 2026 elections.
GOP leaders are worried that price inflation could ultimately hurt them at the ballot box, as it did during the trade wars of 1932 and 1982.
