Trump Tariffs Criticized By Republican Megadonor And Home Depot Co-Founder Ken Langone: 'I Don't Understand The... Formula'

Republican megadonor and Home Depot co-founder Ken Langone has criticized President Donald Trump’s tariff policies, voicing his concerns on the 46% reciprocal levies imposed on Vietnam.

Langone expressed his frustration with Trump's tariffs in an interview with the Financial Times. “You might as well tell them, ‘Don’t even bother calling,” he said.

Langone thinks Trump is being “poorly advised” regarding his tariff policies, adding that they did not allow “serious negotiations” to work.

“I don’t understand the goddamn formula,” said Langone. 

He strongly opposed Trump's tariffs on China, calling them “too aggressive, too soon.”

Langone joins a growing list of billionaires who have publicly voiced their discontent with the Trump administration’s tariff policies.

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon warned that Trump's tariffs would result in a surge in inflation and slow down growth but stopped short of predicting a recession due to the policy.

Dimon had previously said national security is more critical than tariff-induced inflation.

Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman strongly criticized Trump's tariffs in a post on the social media platform X, calling them “massive and disproportionate.”

Goldman Sachs raised the odds of a recession twice in a week, from 20% initially to 35%, and, subsequently, 45%.

Tesla, Inc. (TSLA) CEO and Trump ally Elon Musk made a cryptic post on X, where late economist Milton Friedman espoused principles of a globally connected supply chain and a free-market economy while critiquing central planning structures.

Musk, however, did not add any comment while reposting the Friedman clip.

Amid the ongoing tariff conversations, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), which tracks the S&P 500 index, was up nearly 2% at the time of writing.

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Also See: Tariff Wars – China Vows To ‘Fight To The End,’ Calls Trump’s 50% Additional Levies Threat ‘Mistake Upon A Mistake’