As Musk and others cheered the tariff suspension, analysts warned that the US has not escaped tariff troubles.

US President Trump announced on Wednesday a temporary suspension of tariffs on certain countries, providing a 90-day exemption period. Following this decision, US stocks rose across the board, driving a surge in Asian markets on Thursday.

Wall Street particularly welcomed this move, with many prominent investors and entrepreneurs who had previously criticized Trump changing their stance and praising his "flexibility."

Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman stated that Trump's policy execution has been excellent, calling it a textbook example of deal-making.

Earlier this week, Ackman strongly advocated for Trump to pause the implementation of tariffs, urging that tariff negotiations be completed without causing significant disruption to the global economy, otherwise tariffs would harm the most vulnerable US companies and consumers.

Tesla CEO and US Secretary of Efficiency Elon Musk also briefly posted the "100" emoji on X, expressing support for Trump's tariff suspension. Previously, he had repeatedly hinted at his opposition to tariffs on X.

Back to Square One

In addition to Musk and Ackman, Dogecoin co-founder Billy Markus and PayPal co-founder David Sacks also applauded the tariff suspension policy. However, some economists and analysts remained less optimistic.

KPMG chief economist Diane Swonk posted on X that despite the suspension news, the US has not escaped the tariff issue. She emphasized that due to the US increasing tariffs on China, the actual tariff rate is now higher than when it was announced on April 2, with the effective tariff rate peaking at 30.5%, which is worse than the worst-case scenario.

Spencer Hakimian, founder of hedge fund Tolou Capital Management, was also dissatisfied with Trump's unpredictability, stating that after Trump's recent reversal, the US is now back to square one, so Trump has achieved nothing.

Chris Fralic, partner at venture capital firm First Round Capital, mocked the broad rise in US stocks, pointing out on X that if a portfolio falls by X% and then rises by X%, the portfolio is still at a loss. The larger the drop, the more obvious the loss.

Another prominent investor, Cost Plus Drugs co-founder Mark Cuban, reposted economist Paulo dos Santos' statement, which likened Trump's tariffs to "drug abuse" in economic strategy.

He previously noted that the reality of Trump's tariffs is that companies are buying large amounts of inventory to cope with tariffs, using funds that were originally intended for investment or hiring. In fact, companies may cut costs and reduce jobs as a result. However, the Trump team clearly did not consider this reality.