Billionaire Ken Griffin calls tariffs a 'painfully regressive tax,' hitting working class Americans the hardest

Billionaire Ken Griffin, laminitis and CEO of the Citadel hedge fund, said moving people Americans will bear the brunt of President Donald Trump's punitive tariffs connected U.S. trading partners.

"Tariffs deed the pocketbook of hardworking Americans the hardest," Griffin said connected CNBC's "Closing Bell" Wednesday. "It's similar a income taxation for the American people. It's going to deed those who are moving the hardest to marque ends meet. That's my large contented with tariffs. It's specified a painfully regressive tax."

Trump rolled retired shockingly precocious levies connected imports past month, triggering utmost swings connected Wall Street. The president aboriginal went connected to denote a 90-day intermission connected overmuch of the increase, but for China, arsenic the White House sought to onslaught deals with large trading partners. Trump has slapped tariffs of 145% connected imported Chinese goods this year, prompting China to enforce retaliatory levies of 125%.

Griffin, whose hedge money managed much than $65 cardinal astatine the commencement of 2025, voted for Trump and was a megadonor to Republican politicians. But helium has besides criticized Trump's commercialized policy, saying it risks spoiling the "brand" of the United States and its authorities enslaved market.

"The crushed the American voters elected President Trump was due to the fact that of the failed economical policies of Joe Biden and the inflationary daze that reduced the existent incomes of each American household," Griffin said. "The president truly does person to absorption connected managing inflation, due to the fact that I deliberation it's beforehand and center, the superior people paper that American voters are going to deliberation astir erstwhile it comes to this midterm election."

The Wall Street titan said determination is simply a "modest" hazard of stagflation arsenic higher tariffs make some inflationary pressures and dilatory down the economy. He said the trajectory of the system mostly depends connected however Trump's economical argumentation develops.

As laid retired by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Trump's economical programme takes a three-pronged approach: trade, taxation cuts and deregulation.

"The question is, volition each 3 of those travel unneurotic to springiness america the maturation that we request successful our economy?," Griffin asked. "That's the existent question we're going to look implicit the adjacent 2 years."