White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told billionaire Bill Ackman and others to “ease off the rhetoric a little bit” regarding America’s new reciprocal tariffs on its trading partners.
“I would urge everyone, especially Bill, to ease off the rhetoric a little bit,” Hassett told Fox&Friends on Monday.
“Even if you think that there will be some negative effect from the trade side, that’s still a small share of GDP,” he added. “And so the idea that it’s going to be a ‘nuclear winter,’ or something like that, is completely irresponsible rhetoric.”
On Sunday, Ackman warned that America is “heading for a self-induced, economic nuclear winter.”
He said President Donald Trump should have a 90-day pause on the tariffs.
“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,” Ackman said on X.
The billionaire added that Trump 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,” Ackman explained.
The billionaire supported Trump in the 2024 election but has a long history of supporting Democratic presidential candidates.
Hassett said over 50 countries are currently negotiating with Trump about their tariff levels.
He told Fox&Friends that Trump thinks “this policy will help American workers.”
The economic advisor also said Trump will listen to America’s trade partners.
“If they come to us with really great deals that manage American manufacturing and American farmers, I am sure he will listen,” Hassett explained.
However, he said it will be “tough” to get Trump to agree a deal due to “decades and decades of mistreating American workers.
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Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network. Email tips to Zachery at zschmidt1717@gmail.com. Follow Zachery on Twitter @zacheryschmidt2.
Photo “Kevin Hassett” by Fox News.
