Citadel CEO Ken Griffin will speak at the Semafor World Economy Summit 2025 held in Conrad Washington, DC on April 23, 2025.
Kayla Bartkowski | Getty Images
Citadel founder and CEO Ken Griffin said President Donald Trump’s global trade battles risk ruining the reputation of the country and its government bond markets.
“The United States wasn’t just a country… it’s a universal brand. Whether it’s our culture, our financial strength, our military strength, our America has risen, not just a country,” Griffin said Wednesday at the World Economic Summit in Washington, DC. “It’s like most of the aspirations in the world and we’re eroding that brand now.”
Trump’s rollout of the highest tariff on generational imports shocked the world earlier this month, causing extreme volatility on Wall Street. A few days later, the president announced a sudden 90-day suspension for most of the increase, except for China, as the White House tried to make deals with the country.
In response to political tensions, the Treasury has risen, weakening the dollar against global counterparts with signs that investors are leaving the US as the safest place to invest in.
“In the financial markets, there are no brands compared to the US Treasury brand, the US dollar strength. The strength, the US Treasury credit value, the brand didn’t approach. That brand was at risk,” Griffin said.
Griffin, whose hedge fund has over $65 billion in managed assets in early 2025, voted for Trump and was a mega-donor of Republican politicians. However, he is extremely critical of Trump’s trade policy, calling the president’s rhetoric “bold.”
“The president, the Treasury Secretary and the Commerce Secretary must be very thoughtful when you have a brand. You need to behave in a way that respects that brand, because when you hurt that brand, if you hurt that brand, it can be a lifetime to repair the damage that has ended,” Griffin said.
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