'He's like a little kid that found this water gun' - Billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller takes Donald Trump to task over the trade war, and breaks down the long-lasting damage it could do
- Billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller - who formerly managed money for George Soros, ran his own hedge fund, and now oversees a family office - is no fan of President Donald Trump's trade war.
- In an exclusive interview conducted by RealVision.com and seen by Business Insider, Druckenmiller explained why he thinks the president's approach is flawed, and warned against the future implications of his behavior.
President Donald Trump's trade war won't go away. And neither will the ill effects associated with it.
For evidence of that, look no further than the stock market on Monday afternoon. US equities looked to be headed for a modest rally following a tough stretch that saw the benchmark S&P 500 fall in 14 of the previous 17 days.
Then Trump's latest trade war headline crossed the wire.
The president was reported to be readying tariffs on the final $257 billion worth of Chinese goods, in the event that ongoing discussions fail. The stock market responded in typically scared fashion, erasing gains and finishing deeply in the red.
The whole ordeal served as a microcosm for the immediate trepidation Trump's trade war can strike in the heart of stock investors.
And that's just the market-specific angle. If put into place, Trump's proposed tariffs could make a wide range of consumer products more expensive for the average American.
Stanley Druckenmiller - the billionaire investor who formerly managed money for George Soros, ran his own hedge fund, and now oversees a family office - isn't particularly impressed with Trump's approach. He says that if the current political environment continues like this, it could have a very detrimental long-term effect on the US.
The billionaire investor shared his thoughts on the matter during a recent interview interview with RealVision.com. The chat was conducted by Kiril Sokoloff, the chairman and founder of 13D Global Strategy & Research.
Note that his responses have been edited for clarity and length (emphasis ours).
"Probably the most destructive thing Trump has done in the global trading system is figure out how powerful a weapon the US banking system is, and how powerful sanctions are. But he doesn't understand that the weapon was created, and is so powerful, because - from the Marshall Plan on - we have been the only country in history that's handled success the way we have."
"Yes, you should use this weapon once in a while. But when you start just shooting it all over the place, and you're now shooting it at Canada, at Europe, here or there, that's a lot different than shooting at Iran or Russia."
"He's like a little kid that found this water gun, and he's just running around going all over the place with it. And the biggest danger I see is we lose that trust that America is good."
"I don't think it can be lost in four years. I really don't. But if Trump is re-elected - or maybe even worse, if another populist on the very hard left is re-elected - and they use the weapon the same way, I think by '24, this thing could be very bad."