Billionaire Trump-Backer Calls For 90-Day Pause to Sweeping Tariffs to Avoid 'Self-Induced Economic Nuclear Winter'

Pershing Square CEO Bill Ackman, who strongly backed Donald Trump in the presidential election, is calling for a 90-day pause on the tariffs imposed around the world as markets continue to plummet as a result. Otherwise, he warned, the world will enter a "self-induced economic nuclear winter."

In a lengthy post on X, Ackman said that Trump "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," he added.

Ackman acknowledged that Trump "elevated the tariff issue to the most important geopolitical issue in the world, and he has gotten everyone's attention," saying that "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."

However, he noted, the imposition of "massive and disproportionate tariffs on our friends and 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."

Ackman warned that if Trump continues course and launches an "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."

Trump, however, continues to defend his decision, saying the U.S. is addressing years of abuses from other countries, especially China. In a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump said that "Oil prices are down, interest rates are down (the slow moving Fed should cut rates!), food prices are down, there is NO INFLATION, and the long timed abused USA is bringing Billions of Dollars a week from the abusing countries on tariffs that are already in place."

"This is despite the fact that the biggest abuser of them all, China, whose markets are crashing, just raised its Tariffs by 34%, on top of its long term ridiculously high Tariffs (Plus!), not acknowledging my warning for abusing countries not to retaliate. They've made enough, for decades, taking advantage of the Good OL' USA! Our past "leaders" are to blame for allowing this, and so much else, to happen to our Country. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!" Trump added on Monday.

Markets continue to plummet in the meantime, with stock indexes around the world plunging for a third consecutive day. Bloomberg detailed that the selloff has already wiped out $9.5 trillion in value and there is no end in sight for the rout.

Ackman is not the only Wall Street titan warning against the impact of the tariffs. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon also warned on Monday that they would will fuel inflation and slow down economic growth, claiming that "the quicker this issue is resolved, the better because some of the negative effects increase cumulatively over time and would be hard to reverse.