Citadel's Griffin sees tariffs posing risk to US growth

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Ken Griffin, founder and CEO of investment firm Citadel, said on Tuesday that U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff policy is a risk to economic growth and may force other countries to find new trade alliances, as he criticized Trump's "bombastic rhetoric."

"The uncertainty and chaos created by the tariff dynamics between us and our allies is an impediment to growth," he told the audience at a conference hosted by UBS Group. "It makes it difficult for multinationals in particular to think about how to plan for the next five, 10, 15, 20 years."

Trump substantially raised tariffs on steel and aluminum imports on Monday to a flat 25% "without exceptions or exemptions," and imposed 10% tariffs on all goods from China while also threatening both Canada and Mexico.

Griffin, a Republican supporter who has said he voted for Trump in the November election, is a critic of some of Trump's policies, such as tariffs and immigration, as he believes they could increase the U.S. deficit and make domestic companies less competitive and productive.

Griffin said a tariff on Canada's energy products could force the country to diversify its customer base and find new trading partners, such as China.

"From my vantage point, the bombastic rhetoric, the damage has already been done. It's a huge mistake to resort to this form of rhetoric when you're trying to drive a bargain, because it sears into the minds of CEOs and policymakers that 'we can't depend upon America as our trading partner,'" he said.

Questioned about a potential conflict of interest between Elon Musk's role as a businessman still ahead of his companies, such as Tesla and his position as Trump's advisor, Griffin said he is thankful about it, from "the bottom of my heart."

"Thank you for making the commitment that you are making to help to rectify the reckless and wasteful spending in Washington, DC," he said.

(Reporting by Carolina Mandl; additional reporting by Davide Barbuscia in New York; Editing by Chris Reese, Leslie Adler and Nick Zieminski)

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