Ken Griffin didn’t hold back. The billionaire founder of Citadel called Trump’s new tariffs a colossal policy error, plain and simple. In his view, this isn’t economic strategy. It’s a ticking time bomb for American consumers, particularly the working class who already walk a financial tightrope every month.
“When you tell a family making $50,000 a year that everything from their vacuum cleaner to their groceries is going to cost 20 to 40 percent more, that’s not economic nationalism,” Griffin said. “That’s punishment for the people who can least afford it.” He’s not talking about abstract figures on a spreadsheet. He’s talking about the single mom at Walmart, the mechanic fixing up his old Chevy, the families already crushed under rent and grocery bills. Tariffs hit them first and hardest.
And even if the fantasy of reshoring industrial jobs materializes, Griffin is blunt. That’s a twenty-year dream. Not something that happens in two years. Not even in five. You can’t just flip a switch and rebuild a complex manufacturing base that was dismantled over decades.
Peter Schiff took it a step further, warning that these tariffs won’t just raise prices. They will trigger an avalanche. Bankruptcies, layoffs, shuttered malls. Surviving retailers will slash floor space, cut workers, and hike prices. Empty retail space will bleed into commercial real estate. Landlords won’t collect. Banks will eat defaults. It’s not protectionism. It’s slow-motion economic self-destruction.
Schiff’s bottom line is blunt. Retail will shrink. Sales will collapse. Prices will still rise. And yes, technically, that means the trade deficit will narrow. Not because America is producing more. But because Americans can no longer afford to buy.
Tom Giovanetti offers a stark reminder. The United States has run trade deficits for nearly five decades. During that time, real GDP has more than tripled. Manufacturing output increased, not declined. The narrative that trade deficits are a sign of decline has never held water. Economic strength came alongside global trade, not in spite of it.
But now, the ports are turning into graveyards of goods. Thousands of products are stuck. Some companies refuse to ship at all. The list is surreal. No more Rolex watches. No more Range Rovers. No more CT scan machines. This isn’t just luxury. It’s health. It’s diagnostics. It’s key infrastructure and irreplaceable tech.
A 10 percent baseline tariff is only the beginning. Some countries are slapped harder, especially those who dare to tax American exports. The tit-for-tat is escalating fast. China now faces a 54 percent tariff and has responded with a 34 percent strike of its own. Trump has threatened to double down yet again, which would push tariffs above 100 percent on some goods.
The implications are chilling. China controls the flow of rare earth elements essential for magnets, electronics, and even defense systems. It has already hinted it will limit exports. It may withhold components for CT scanners. That’s not just geopolitical theater. That’s leverage over the physical and digital infrastructure of America.
Swiss watches are on pause. Toy shipments from China have stopped. Come summer, shelves could be bare of Tonka trucks and Care Bears. From the high-end to the everyday, this policy is slicing through the American supply chain with surgical precision. And the wounds are self-inflicted.
The truth? These tariffs are not economic strategy. They’re an inflation accelerant disguised as patriotism, timed just right for maximum political optics and minimum long-term viability.
Sources:
https://x.com/wallstengine/status/1909577236463993193
https://x.com/tgiovanetti/status/1909354564987580584
https://x.com/PeterSchiff/status/1909562717108650154
https://nypost.com/2025/04/07/us-news/luxury-cars-watches-toys-not-shipped-to-us-over-tariffs/
https://x.com/Dumfukdetector/status/1909262235089666139