Hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin said early actions from the Trump administration eroded confidence in US Treasurys, which he considers America’s most powerful brand.
“In the financial markets, no brand compares to the brand of the US Treasurys, US Treasury market, the strength of US dollar, and the strength, the creditworthiness, of US Treasurys. No brand comes close,” Griffin said at a Washington, D.C., conference hosted by media outlet Semafor.
“We’re eroding that brand right now,” he added. “We put that brand at risk.”
President Trump, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick “need to be very thoughtful” about protecting those brand advantages, Griffin said during the wide-ranging conversation.
“When you tarnish that brand, it can be a lifetime to repair the damage that has been done,” he added.
Read more: What is the 10-year Treasury note, and how does it affect your finances?
This month, the price of 10-year Treasurys plunged along with stocks after Trump unveiled an aggressive set of “reciprocal” tariffs on countries around the world. Trump later paused many of them for 90 days while negotiations take place, but he left 145% duties in place on Chinese goods.
The retreat from Treasurys raised new questions about that traditional safe-haven asset and whether investors would look for other alternatives amid worries about slowing economic growth, higher inflation, and escalating geopolitical tensions.
Some of those worries eased Wednesday after a report that the Trump administration is considering unilaterally slashing the steep tariffs on Chinese imports, only for Bessent to deny that any one-sided concessions were coming.
Griffin, the founder and CEO of investment firm Citadel, has been warning about Trump’s trade policies for months now. As far back as early February, he called Trump’s aggressive trade talk a “huge mistake” that would produce chaos and, in his view, pose an “impediment” to economic growth.
The comments were notable given Griffin’s standing on Wall Street and within GOP circles as a big donor to Republican political campaigns. Last December, Griffin said he voted for Trump but didn’t contribute money to his campaign, having already backed some GOP rivals.
On Wednesday, when asked what he thinks of the Trump administration’s trade and broader economic efforts thus far, Griffin called the outcome “mixed.”
“In fairness, the president has an extremely extensive agenda and a very finite amount of time in which to implement said agenda,” Griffin added.
