Crypto-friendly billionaire believes Trump may postpone tariff implementation
Perhaps he will need time to make better deals, says Ackman
Crypto-friendly billionaire investor Bill Ackman has a theory. According to it, U.S. President Donald Trump may pause the implementation of his controversial proposed tariffs on April 7 in order to negotiate better deals with other countries.
“One would have to imagine that President Donald Trump's phone has been ringing off the hook. The practical reality is that there is insufficient time for him to make deals before the tariffs are scheduled to take effect,” Ackman, founder of Pershing Square Capital Management, said in an April 5 X post.
Accordingly, he may take extra time to make better deals with the countries.
“I would, therefore, not be surprised to wake up Monday with an announcement from the President that he was postponing the implementation of the tariffs to give him time to make deals,” Ackman added.
Tariffing the allies but not so much the foes
On April 2 U.S. President Donald Trump stunned the world. In an unprecedented move, the White House introduced tariffs on virtually all U.S. trade partners – friends and foes alike, – including embattled economies like Ukraine, which is dependent on Western support for its survival against Russian aggression.
The blanket tariff of 10%, which went into effect April 5, applies to most global economies, Ukraine included.
Others, however, have taken an even more significant hit. The largest trading bloc the European Union, which also includes NATO member states and countries like Italy and Hungary, the leaders of which, Giorgia Meloni and Viktor Orban, are known to be on good terms with the Trump administration, has been subjected to the 20% “reciprocal tariff” following the previously introduced 25% tariff on cars, car parts, and steel and aluminum disclosed last month.
Likewise, Trump targeted the UK with a 10% tariff despite UK PM Keir Starmer’s successful visit to Washington, D.C. where he appeared to woo Trump and the fact that the U.S. runs a surplus with the UK.
Israel, arguably the closest ally of the current highly pro-Israel administration and which has been at shooting war with Iran proxies HAMAS and Hezbollah since 2023, has not been spared either. Despite Jerusalem’s blitz action a day earlier to lift all remaining duties on US imports, Washington D.C. slapped a 17% tariff on Israeli exports that include diamonds, machinery, optical devices, medicine, pharmaceuticals, and electronic equipment, which amounted to more than $22 billion last year.
While excluding Russia, which launched a full-scale war against Ukraine on February 24 2022, and other authoritarian states like Belarus and North Korea from the “reciprocal” tariffs scale purportedly, due to these economies already being heavily sanctioned, the White House targeted China, its known archrival, with a 34% tariff. Meanwhile, Iran was tariffed at just 10%
Previously, we reported that the U.S. began to officially collect new 10% tariff on imports.
