MAGA billionaires balk at Donald Trump's tariff gambit, warn of 'economic nuclear winter'

TOI correspondent from Washington: Prominent Trump acolytes and business leaders are jumping of the MAGA tariff train as the US President's gambit -- capricious to some and audacious to others -- threatens to derail global trade and commerce that he wants to re-order.

In the first signs of dissent in the higher MAGAsphere, Elon Musk publicly favored a free trade zone between Europe and America and got into an ugly brawn with Trump's tariff czar Peter Navarro, a long-time protectionist.

Musk smacked down on Navarro's Harvard economics Ph.D credentials that one supporter touted to justify the tariff gambit, saying "that's a bad thing, not a good thing," and added "he ain't built shit." Navarro shot back in a TV interview, gibing that Musk “is not a car manufacturer. He’s a car assembler.”

The firefight in MAGAsphere erupted even as top American bankers and investment gurus close to Trump blanched at the white knuckle descent in the stock market roller coaster that has wiped out more than $ 5 trillion in two days of trading.

Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, a close Trump acolyte, pleaded for a "90-day time out" he wanted the President to announce to negotiate and resolve unfair asymmetric tariff deals, cautioning, "Business is a confidence game. The president is losing the confidence of business leaders around the globe."

"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 warned.

But Trump amped up the tariff war even after Ackman's call, nuking global trade with bluster, bravado, and bitter invective that blamed other countries for America's consumption-driven economy and Washington's inability to export its way to balanced trade and out of trouble.

The US President lashed out at EU and Japan for not buying American meat and cars, pinning the blame on high tariffs although trade experts suggest the US products do not meet the standards that are acceptable in many countries.

Although European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday that the EU stands ready to negotiate a zero for zero tariff deal with the United States, most Europeans scoff at American cars they say do not suit the continent. They also find US meat and chicken abhorrent for the way it is raised.

Beyond the trade fracas, JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon warned that the tariffs "will likely increase inflation" and are causing many to consider a greater probability of a recession."
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