Fox Business guest: “These are not reciprocal tariffs, this is a nuclear-style assault on global business, and it's going to land us in a recession”
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From the April 7, 2025, edition of Fox Business' Mornings with Maria Bartiromo
MARIA BARTIROMO (ANCHOR): What is your reaction to what you are hearing from folks like Bill Ackman?
BRAD GERSTNER (GUEST): Well listen, I think he starts off by saying most of us are supportive of the president's pro-business policies; lower taxes, less regulation, pro-M&A. All of that is great, that's what people voted for. But they also voted for, remember, fair and reciprocal tariffs, right? Precision-guided tariffs. ... And that's what we thought we were going to get, but when the president held up this poster board — these were not reciprocal tariffs, right? This is a Navarro nuclear-style attack on American business. And you see the reaction in global markets. And so, I think that the president in the course of time, as Bill suggests, is going to realize now that we have 50 countries that are calling in to the United States looking to negotiate, we'll get to the negotiating table, that's what we need to do, that's what markets need to see.
The markets need to be reminded that the president really does believe in reciprocal and fair tariffs, and he's not trying to unwind the entire global system of trade, which has worked really well for America. Remember, America is about 80% of the globe's market cap over last 30 years, right? There are certainly things that need to be fixed, but over the last 30 years, our share of global wealth has gone up dramatically.
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BARTIROMO: What would be a market-moving event that would reverse this sentiment, do you think?
GERSTNER: Really, it's just about the goals and objectives, Maria. The market, you know, remember, the president took to the Rose Garden to announce the tariffs. And he started off by saying a 10% reciprocal tariff on countries, because that is fair, and the market was actually up a percent and a half in early response to the president's announcement. But when people started breaking down this, right? This is not even tariffs, this is a trade deficit. It adds up to over a trillion dollars of new tariffs. The market can't bear that. American business can't bear that. It's a nuclear-style attack on global business. And so, I think we need a framework. And the framework begins, just as you said, Maria, country-by-country. We have 50 countries who now want to negotiate. Great. The president was successful getting them to the table. He's the negotiator-in-chief, he wrote "The Art of the Deal," now let's get to table and make deals. And, I think, if the market thought we had time – and that was objective – and that's the key, that the objective is to get to these deals and truly get back to reciprocal tariffs, I think we have a clear path forward.
Here's the danger in the interim. The danger in the interim is we're now entering a period that Stan Druckenmiller and so many CEOs over the weekend said of negative reflexivity. Credit markets are beginning to crack, and when that happens, we're on the verge of throwing the U.S. into a recession that you can't easily get out of. This is not just a little short-term medicine. You can't just push a button and magically this all resets. I was with over 100 CEOs this weekend at the Breakthrough Prize in Los Angeles, the biggest CEOs in all of technology, and I will tell you every single one of them said business is slowing, right, we're heading into very dangerous territory, we were already beginning to slow. So, I just think we can't overplay our hand here. If America is going to remain strong, and be great again, we also have to remain rich and healthy from an economic perspective. And this puts that at risk.
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GERSTNER: The Navarro nuclear approach to tariffs is going to land us squarely in a recession. Scott Bessent knows it, he said it a year ago. The Trump tariff agenda should be a fully loaded gun rarely discharged. Instead, we took out the bazooka. These are not reciprocal tariffs, this is a nuclear-style assault on global business, and it's going to land us in a recession.