Ken Griffin is the founder and CEO of Citadel, one of the leading alternative investment companies around the world. On Wednesday, Griffin discussed the impact of Trump's ongoing tariff policies, warning that the US global reputation was at stake.
“The United States is more than a country-it's a brand,” Griffin said on Wednesday in a chat at Fireside during the World Economy Summit of Semafor where he was a co-chair. From its culture to the financial and military strength, the US is a goal for most of the world, Griffin said, but this time “we are removing the brand now,” he said.
Griffin's comments came in the midst of the ongoing fall from the sweeping “reward” tariffs that President Trump was announced on April 2, which had been able to digest a melting market. Trump returned to part of a week later by announcing a 90-day pause in some tariffs, but a 10% tariff in almost all global imports, and a 25% level of imported cars and some auto parts remain in the area. Trump told White House reporters on Tuesday that the US tariff rate on Chinese imports, currently at 145%, was “declining significantly but it would not be zero.”
Griffin threw away the recent economic disturbance that the White House had provoked in the context of consumers to buy a product because they trusted the brand, Griffin explained. “In financial markets, there is no brand comparable to the US wealth brand … We put that brand at risk,” he said. It takes a very long time to remove the tarnish in a brand, Griffin said.
The fears of US government transfer policies Fate reported. However, 61% of participants in the latest Global Fund Manager Survey of Bank of America expected The dollar will decrease in value next year.
The President, as well as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commercial Secretary Howard Lutnick, “needs to be thoughtful,” Griffin said. “When you have a brand, you have to act the way that brand is respected,” he said.
Many people with the president's ears are in favor of current tariff policies, he said. And there is room to debate what the right policy is and what actions to take, he added. “But most important is how we carry out ourselves so that we do not reduce the stature of the United States of America,” Griffin said.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
