Citadel's billionaire founder, Ken Griffin, whose $65 billion hedge fund is the most profitable of all time, is not eyeing any winning bets right now.
Speaking at Semafor's World Economy Summit in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, Griffin said the overall market was shrinking too fast to generate returns.
"There are no great opportunities," he said.
Griffin said that the trade war was causing the country to lose its status as a financial safe haven globally and was putting the US's brand at risk.
"We're eroding that brand right now," said Griffin, who in the same conversation praised the Trump administration's work on immigration and reversing "wokeism."
The reason is the administration's trade war, which has "devolved into a nonsensical place," he said.
The Miami-biased billionaire is one of the many deep-pocketed supporters of President Donald Trump who have questioned the rationale and implementation of the tariffs. The policies, implemented earlier this month, have rattled global equity and bond markets, hurt the US dollar's standing against other currencies, and sent investors fleeing for safe-haven assets like gold.
He said that when comparing the dollar with the euro, "we've become 20% poorer" because of the American currency's slide against its European equivalent.
"All you're trying to do is tread water and not drown," he added.
Citadel has avoided most of the market pain, but the firm's flagship fund was still down 0.9% through the end of the first quarter. By comparison, the S&P 500 fell more than 4% over the same period and has been hit even harder in April.
The index was up more than 2% on Wednesday, though, as the Trump administration softened on its hard-line stance toward China.
Griffin, who voted for Trump and donated to his inauguration committee, called on business leaders to talk "calmly, respectively, and collectively" with the president, the House of Representatives, and the Senate about these polices.
