Billionaire investor Bill Ackman, a supporter of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, has publicly called for a three-month pause on the broad and steep reciprocal tariffs imposed on Chinese goods. This appeal comes after Trump extended similar pauses to most other countries last week.
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Ackman, who has been critical of the current tariff policy, took to social media platform X to propose a temporary 90-day suspension of the tariffs. He pointed out that small and medium-size American businesses suffer from an inability to adapt to the tariffs on China overnight.
By launching the tariffs on April 2nd, President @realDonaldTrump has enabled our trading partners to experience the visceral impact of the tariffs on their markets, companies, and citizens, and he has shown that he is prepared to do what is necessary to address unfair trading practices. The result has been nations lining up to negotiate deals with the administration. So far so good. By pausing reciprocal tariffs for 90 days and exempting certain goods from tariffs this weekend, he has also shown considerable flexibility in understanding the challenges to US companies in adapting to the tariffs overnight. By leaving a 145% tariff on China for the last few days, he has sent a message to China about the consequences to China of retaliating rather than coming to the negotiating table. The problem is that there remain millions of small and medium-size American businesses that suffer from an inability to adapt to the tariffs on China overnight.