Ken Griffin, chief executive officer and founder of Citadel Advisors LLC, speaks during an Economic Club of New York event on Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in New York, U.S.
Yuki Iwamura | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Citadel CEO Ken Griffin has issued a warning against new President Donald Trump’s hefty tariffs, saying crony capitalism could be the result.
“I am deeply concerned that increasing tariffs puts us on a slippery slope toward crony capitalism,” the billionaire investor said Thursday at the Economic Club of New York.
The founder of Citadel said that domestic companies can take short-term advantage of taking away their competitors. In the long term, however, it does more harm to corporate America and the economy as companies lose competitiveness and productivity, he said.
Crony capitalism is an economic system characterized by close, mutually beneficial relationships between business leaders and government officials.
“The same companies that enjoy this momentary sugar rush of knocking their rivals off the battlefield soon become complacent, soon recognize their newfound economic superiority, and, frankly, they’re world-class. become less competitive and less competitive in meeting the needs of American consumers,” Griffin said at the event.
Trump made universal tariffs a cornerstone of his economic campaign, imposing a 20% levy on all imports from all countries, with a particularly stiff 60% rate on Chinese goods.
Protectionist trade policy can make goods more expensive to produce and raise consumer prices, just as the world recovers from inflationary spikes during the pandemic.
“Now you will find the halls of Washington filled with special interest groups and lobbyists as people fight to keep out foreign competition, and to protect inefficient American businesses that have failed to meet the needs, more and more. more tariffs than American consumers,” Griffin said.
At the same event, Griffin also said that he is not focused on taking Citadel Securities public in the near future. Citadel is a market maker founded in 2002 by Griffin.
“We’re focused on building the business, investing in our future. And we believe there are benefits to going private in this era of very rapid growth.” He said.
