Business leaders from Bill Ackman to Mark Cuban react to Trump's tariff pause

Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert

Wed, Apr 9, 2025, 2:57 PM 4 min read

• President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced a 90-day pause in his tariff plan against some countries.

• Stocks, which had fallen following news of his aggressive strategy, surged in response to the pause.

• Business leaders across the spectrum, from Bill Ackman to Mark Cuban, reacted disparately.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced via a social media post a planned 90-day pause in his aggressive tariff plan against some countries, sending ripples through the business community.

The market, which had plummeted following news of the president's trade strategy, surged in response to the planned pause, while industry leaders from across the political spectrum gave their initial reactions.

Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, in a post on X, wrote, "This was brilliantly executed by @realDonaldTrump. Textbook, Art of the Deal."

Ackman had previously advocated for a pause in the tariffs' implementation "to enable negotiations to be completed without a major global economic disruption that will harm the most vulnerable companies and citizens of our country."

"The benefit of @realDonaldTrump 's approach is that we now understand who are our preferred trading partners, and who the problems are," Ackman said in a separate post following the announcement of the pause. "China has shown themselves to be a bad actor. Our counterparties also have a taste of what life is like if they don't take down their trade barriers. This is the perfect setup for trade negotiations over the next 90 days."

Ackman continued: "Advice for China: Pick up the phone and call the President. He is a tough but fair negotiator. The longer China holds out and retaliates, the worse the outcome for China."

Shibetoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonym for Dogecoin co-creator Billy Markus, posted a hypothetical statement on X which read, "The next 4 years are gonna be an insane roller coaster, aren't they?" Tesla CEO Elon Musk replied simply with a "100" emoji.

PayPal and Yammer cofounder David Sacks posted on X to declare Trump's reversal on tariffs a massive victory for the president.

"They did everything they could to create a panic," Sacks wrote. "They predicted a Black Monday that never came. They became jubilant over an intraday correction on Tuesday. They were rooting for Trump to fail even if it meant the market and economy crashed."

The tech founder and investor continued: "Fortunately their hopes have been dashed. Trump has been vindicated. China is isolated, and the rest of the world is lining up to negotiate new trade deals. Do you think this would have happened if Trump had asked nicely? Maybe if he had said pretty please? Never. This was the only way to rewrite the rules of global trade. Once again, Trump was right about everything!"