Kevin Hassett, the director of the White House National Economic Council, criticized hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman after he tweeted President Donald Trump's tariffs could lead to a "self-induced, economic nuclear winter."
Hassett made the comments in an interview Monday, saying Ackman's comments were "completely irresponsible rhetoric."
"I would urge everyone, especially Bill, to ease off the rhetoric a little bit," Hassett said on Fox News.
Hassett said only 14% of the country's gross domestic product is impacted by imports and said "these economic responses are exaggerated by critics."
"Even if you think that there will be some negative effect from the trade side, that's still a small share of GDP," Hassett said.
In a lengthy post on X, Ackman, who endorsed Trump, criticized the rollout of the tariffs.
"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," Ackman said.
Ackman said Trump should pause the tariffs for 90 days while he negotiates and resolves unfair trade deals.
"If … we launch economic nuclear war on every country in the world, business investment will grind to a halt, consumers will close their wallets and pocketbooks, and we will severely damage our reputation with the rest of the world that will take years and potentially decades to rehabilitate," Ackman said. "The president has an opportunity on Monday to call a timeout 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. This is not what we voted for."
Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
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