Ken Griffin Slams Trump For Chasing Tax Cuts And Low-Wage Manufacturing, Questions Push Toward 'Lowest Paid Workforce In The World'

Citadel founder and CEO Ken Griffin slammed the Trump administration for pushing the economy towards a stagflation scenario.  

What Happened: Asked about the GOP reconciliation bill at the Forbes Iconoclast Summit on Thursday, Griffin observed that "there’s a lot of question marks in the bill" and asked why the US is "continuing to increase our tax cuts when we have a fiscal deficit of this magnitude."

At present, federal debt stands at $36.21 trillion, according to data from the Treasury department.

Commenting on the current economic landscape, Griffin said, "It would be a textbook stagflation scenario. The question is, is it for several quarters, or does it become for several years?"

He also flagged the potential long-term effects of Trump's tariffs and reshoring initiatives. "The question is, is the shock from the tariff policies one time in nature, or will the scramble to build manufacturing America put us into a wage growth spiral for years to come?" Griffin asked. "That we don't know the answer to, but that is a real risk in the current environment."

Last month, Griffin criticized the tariff policies for unleashing "an era of crony capitalism" where the government chooses "winners and losers" in the economy.

See Also: Trump’s Tax Bill Will Harm Middle Class Families, Warns Thomas Massie, Calls Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s $4 Trillion Tax Hike Claim Misleading

Why It Matters: The hedge fund billionaire went on to express skepticism about the Trump administration's push towards domestic manufacturing of "low value-added products." "There's no money in it for anybody, and there's certainly no money for people who are doing those jobs," he said, highlighting that these jobs, typically abundant in China, are now moving to "lower value jurisdictions."

"Why are we aspiring to be the nation of the lowest cost and lowest paid workforce in the world? That makes no sense to me," he added, backing domestic manufacturing of "high value-added products" and "particular products that are important to our national defense."

Read Next:

• Gavin Newsom To Sue Trump Administration Over National Guard Deployment, Dares Border Czar Homan To ‘Arrest’ Him

Photo courtesy: Joey Sussman / Shutterstock.com