Bill Ackman Says China 'Asks' For Tariff Relief After Trump's 90-Day Pause: 'Rift Is Healing'

Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman said China had opened the door to implementing a 90-day pause on its own tariffs after it urged the U.S. to revoke additional levies on goods shipped from the Asian nation.

"The rift is healing," Ackman said in a post on X, noting China's official comments after the Trump administration exempted certain consumer electronics and semiconductors from reciprocal tariffs.

Following the reprieve, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce urged the U.S. to "take a big stride in completely abolishing the wrongful action and return to the correct path of resolving differences through equal dialog based on mutual respect," according to a Bloomberg report.

The U.S. had gradually boosted tariffs on Chinese goods to an astonishing 145% after Beijing began retaliating with its own tariffs and set a rate of 125% on U.S. imports.

Ackman said that China's asking for "relief" has created an opening for negotiation.

Earlier last week, Ackman had asked China to start negotiating with the U.S. President before warning that the longer it holds out and retaliates, the worse the outcome would be.

In a series of posts on X, Ackman praised Trump's moves to pause the tariffs on other countries but warned that millions of small and medium-sized American businesses could not adapt to the tariffs on China overnight.

"If President Trump were to pause the China tariffs for 90 days and reduce them temporarily to 10%, he would achieve the same objective in causing US businesses to relocate their supply chains from China without the disruption and risk to these businesses in the short term," Ackman said.

The founder of Pershing Square Capital Management added that the pause would not be a "sign of weakness" and would boost the U.S.'s negotiating power by reducing the negative consequences to the country's economy while deals are being negotiated.

Also See: Businesses Getting 'A Bit Tired' Of Trump's Unpredictable Tariff Moves, Warns Logistics Giant DHL's Chief

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