The resounding message by an investor who voted for Trump and now says: “This is not what we voted for”

We live in strange times, where some people accuse you of "hysteria" if you criticize a measure as disastrous as Trump's tariffs.

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This Monday, the tariff war unleashed by Trump, based on false figures published last week, has caused a collapse of the Asian and European stock markets. The situation has reached such a point that Goldman Sachs has indicated that the probability of a recession in the US has risen to 45%. In any case, if I have seen one thing in recent days, it is that some people do not care about data and economic arguments: they will continue to defend Trump's measure whatever the consequences.

Obviously, not all of the US president's supporters are so enthusiastic. Some have already begun to realize that Trump isn't the brilliant strategist they thought he was. Yesterday, Bill Ackman, an investor who voted for Trump in 2016 and in 2024, and who in November was very optimistic about the new administration ("The U.S. has now become by far the best country for investment," he said) has written a message on Twitter warning of what is coming, a message that has gone viral and has already reached 11 million people. Due to its interest, I am publishing it here:

The country is 100% behind the president on fixing a global system of tariffs that has disadvantaged the country. But, business is a confidence game and confidence depends on trust.

President @realDonaldTrump has elevated the tariff issue to the most important geopolitical issue in the world, and he has gotten everyone’s attention. So far, so good.

And yes, other nations have taken advantage of the U.S. by protecting their home industries at the expense of millions of our jobs and economic growth in our country.

But, by placing massive and disproportionate tariffs on our friends and our enemies alike and thereby launching a global economic war against the whole world at once, we are in the process of destroying confidence in our country as a trading partner, as a place to do business, and as a market to invest capital.

The president has an opportunity to call a 90-day time out, negotiate and resolve unfair asymmetric tariff deals, and induce trillions of dollars of new investment in our country.

If, on the other hand, on April 9th we launch economic nuclear war on every country in the world, business investment will grind to a halt, consumers will close their wallets and pocket books, and we will severely damage our reputation with the rest of the world that will take years and potentially decades to rehabilitate.

What CEO and what board of directors will be comfortable making large,
long-term, economic commitments in our country in the middle of an economic nuclear war?

I don’t know of one who will do so.

When markets crash, new investment stops, consumers stop spending money, and businesses have no choice but to curtail investment and fire workers.

And it is not just the big companies that will suffer. Small and medium size businesses and entrepreneurs will experience much greater pain. Almost no business can pass through an overnight massive increase in costs to their customers. And that’s true even if they have no debt, and, unfortunately, there is a massive amount of leverage in the system.

Business is a confidence game. The president is losing the confidence of business leaders around the globe. The consequences for our country and the millions of our citizens who have supported the president — in particular low-income consumers who are already under a huge amount of economic stress — are going to be severely negative. This is not what we voted for.

The President has an opportunity on Monday to call a time out and have the time to execute on fixing an unfair tariff system.

Alternatively, we are heading for a self-induced, economic nuclear winter, and we should start hunkering down.

May cooler heads prevail.

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Photo: CNBC.