Bill Ackman On Trump Tariff: Bill Ackman admits he’s ‘just frustrated’ after torching Howard Lutnick all day for tariffs

Ackman now says he was wrong to blame Howard Lutnick for the tariffs.

Donald Trump-backer hedge fund manager Bill Ackman said Monday it was unfair of him to lash out at Donald Trump’s commerce secretary Howard Lutnick. The comment came after Ackman created a meltdown almost equal to the market meltdown — criticizing the Trump tariffs in a series of caustic social media posts.
On Sunday, Ackman said he just figured out why Lutnick was indifferent to the stock market and the economy crashing. “He profits when ou economy implodes. It’s a bad idea to pick a Secretary of Commerce whose firm is levered long fixed income. It’s an irreconcilable conflict of interest,” Ackman wrote.
Hours later on Monday, Ackman changed his tack and said he does not think Lutnick is pursuing self-interest.

“I am sure he is doing the best he can for the country while representing the President as Commerce Secretary. It is not an easy job and we don’t know how the sausage was made.”
“I am just frustrated watching what I believe to be a major policy error occur after our country and the president have been making huge economic progress that is now at risk due to the tariffs.”
“I would love to be proven wrong and watch this approach to tariffs and/or their resolution be enormously beneficial to our country and the global economy.”

‘President Trump is not an economist’

As Ackman corrected his course on Lutnic, he said Donald Trump is not an economist and has to rely on his advisors to do these tariff calculations. “The global economy is being taken down because of bad math…The President’s advisors need to acknowledge their error before April 9th and make a course correction before the President makes a big mistake based on bad math,” Ackman said.

‘Completely irresponsible’: What happened to Bill Ackman?

Trump aide Kevin Hassett hinted at Ackman’s jibe and said these people “should ease off the rhetoric” after Ackman warned that President Trump’s tariffs could lead to a “self-induced, economic nuclear winter.”
Hassett said most of the country’s gross domestic product is not affected by Trump’s new sweeping tariffs, noting imports account for just 14 percent of the GDP, “so 86 percent of GDP is affected by the deregulation and the tax cuts and everything else.”
“Even if you think that there will be some negative effect from the trade side, that’s still a small share of GDP,” Hassett said. “And so the idea that it’s going to be a ‘nuclear winter,’ or something like that, is completely irresponsible rhetoric.”

“If you haven’t noticed by now, I speak the truth regardless of the consequences to me personally or what other people think,” Ackman said as MAGA turns against him because of his stinging criticism.