Citadel CEO Ken Griffin speaks during the Semafor World Economy Summit 2025 in Conrad Washington on April 23, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Kayla Bartkowski | Getty images
Ken Griffin, founder and CEO of Citadel, said that President Donald Trump's worldwide trade fight spoils the reputation of the country and its market for government bonds.
“The United States were more than just a nation … It is a universal brand. Whether it is our culture, our financial force, our military force, America rose further than just being a country,” said Griffin on Semafor's World Economy Summit in Washington, DC, on Wednesday. “It was like an ambition for most of the world, and we are eroding that brand now.”
Trump's rollout of the highest rates for imports in generations shocked the world earlier this month and caused extreme volatility on Wall Street. Days later, the president announced a sudden 90-day break over a large part of the increase, except China, because the White House tried to close deals with countries.
In response to the political tensions, the Treasury yields and the dollar weakened against its global counterparts in a sign that US investors are leaving as the safest place to invest.
“In the financial markets, no brand compared to the brand of the American Treasury market, the power of the US dollar. The power, the creditworthiness of American treasurys, there was no brand in the neighborhood. We put that brand in danger,” said Griffin.
Griffin, whose Hedgefonds had more than $ 65 billion in assets at the beginning of 2025, voted for Trump and was a megaDonor for Republican politicians. However, he has been very critical of Trump's trade policy and called the president's rhetoric 'bombastic'.
“The president and the secretary of Treasury and the Minister of Trade must be very attentive if you have a brand, you have to behave in a way that respects that brand, that that brand reinforces, because if you tarnish that brand, it can be a lifetime to repair the damage caused,” Griffin said.
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