Billionaire Bill Ackman’s thoughts on President Donald Trump’s second term include quite the superlative pertaining to business, as he reminded that some efforts “have not yet really taken effect.”
(Video Credit: CNBC)
Even before Trump returned to the White House, naysayers and spin-peddlers opted to portend little more than doom where the chief executive’s economic policies were concerned. Now, after nine months have elapsed and some of the positives are becoming impossible to ignore, the CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management declared Trump the “most pro-business president we’ve ever had.”
The assertion took place during a Tuesday appearance on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” where, contrasted with his outlook for New York City, Ackman exuded optimism for the nation under Trump’s stewardship.
“I would say there’s a lot of positive. Let me be optimistic for a moment. I’m negative on New York if he’s elected, but I’m positive on the country,” he said, referring to New York State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani’s (D) mayoral campaign. “You know, clearly we have the most pro-business president we’ve had in a very long time. And we also have a lot of, you know, very significant things that have been announced, but the effects have not yet really taken effect.”
Rattling off examples, Ackman began, “So one, an infrastructure bill from the past. We have the more recent tax bill, which gives 100% depreciation for investment. We have this massive AI infrastructure investment that’s like building the railroads of the, you know, the early part of the 20th century. We have the productivity effects of AI that are only just starting to, you know, have a significant effect. We have interest rates coming down meaningfully, the 10-year’s below 4%. We have a Fed that’s accommodative, likely to sort of cut interest rates.”
“So these are all, I would say, very positive for the economy and for markets,” he added.
Alluding to Ackman’s own voiced concerns on tariffs from earlier in the year where he’d suggested the administration was “in the process of destroying confidence in our country as a trading partner, as a place to do business, and as a market to invest capital,” CNBC co-host Joe Kernen reminded, “There’s a time where I think you wouldn’t have called Trump the most pro-business president, when a lot of people — you were worried about tariffs. A lot of people worry about tariffs, obviously, in April. Is it that those tariffs never really came — the worst scenario obviously didn’t happen, and probably at this point most people think they’re unlikely to happen?”
The country is 100% behind the president on fixing a global system of tariffs that has disadvantaged the country. But, business is a confidence game and confidence depends on trust.
President @realDonaldTrump has elevated the tariff issue to the most important geopolitical…
— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) April 6, 2025
To that, the guest responded, “Actually, I think Trump has been the most pro-business president we’ve ever had.”
“I was a little bit concerned about the … scale of the tariffs and how quickly they were about to be implemented. My suggestion to the president was to take a 90-day pause. And to his credit, he, you know, modified that position,” added Ackman, who remarked on how Trump, among his other accomplishments, has managed to crank geopolitical risk down by advancing stability in the Middle East.
As for an update on tariffs, during a lunch on Tuesday at the recently inaugurated Rose Garden Club, the president disclosed how an additional $31 billion has been “found.”
“We’re used to finding negative 31s for the last 30 years,” Trump recalled to attendees. “I said, ‘Check the tariff shelf … Check it.’ He comes back two hours later, ‘Sir, you were right. We have an additional $31 billion.’ Billion, not million … from tariffs.”
“We’re a wealthy nation again!” added the president.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: They just found $31 billion! They said, ‘Sir, we found $31 billion. We don’t know why.’ I said, is this a good or a bad find? This was a PLUS 31. We were used to finding negative 31 for the last 30 years. I said, ‘check the TARIFF shelf.’ Check it. He comes… pic.twitter.com/cDxhFHl6iZ
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) October 21, 2025
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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