Howard Lutnick Had an Exceptionally Bad Weekend

President Donald Trump’s tariff policies are roiling markets, business leaders and his own allies as stocks crater. Howard Lutnick seems to be at the center of it all.

Pershing Square chief executive officer Bill Ackman took his case against the Commerce Secretary directly to social media over the weekend, questioning Lutnick’s character and motivation as the public voice of the tariffs.

I just figured out why @howardlutnick is indifferent to the stock market and the economy crashing. He and Cantor are long bonds. He profits when our economy implodes.

It’s a bad idea to pick a Secretary of Commerce whose firm is levered long fixed income. It’s an irreconcilable…

— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) April 7, 2025

“I just figured out why @howardlutnick is indifferent to the stock market and the economy crashing,” Lutnick wrote on X. “He and Cantor are long bonds. He profits when our economy implodes.”

“It’s a bad idea to pick a Secretary of Commerce whose firm is levered long fixed income,” Ackman added. “It’s an irreconcilable conflict of interest.”

Ackman later walked back his comments, which marked a turn from the billionaire’s endorsement of Trump ahead of the 2024 election. But they were a small slice of the tariff drama that fell on Lutnick, who left Cantor Fitzgerald to serve under Trump.

The tweet came hours after Lutnick appeared on CBS’ “Face the Nation”, where he teased a resurgence for the American workforce. His comments drew ire on social media from observers who cited direct conflict with his previous forecasts for the division of automation and new jobs in the wake of the trade war set off by the administration.

He seemed to suggest union workers would build and operate automated factories, host Margaret Brennan noted was in direct contrast to previous comments Lutnick made about the deployment of robots.

“Democrats may want to pay for Sec. Lutnick to travel the country; he’s a tremendous salesman for these tariffs,” former “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd posted on X about the exchange.

It’s not the only recent instance of Lutnick’s words coming back to bite him. Last month, Lutnick said on Fox News that “it’ll never be this cheap again,” referring to the $235.86 stock price of Tesla.

He was proven very wrong on Monday as the stock dropped to $217.41 within 45 minutes of the market opening, according to Bloomberg. It recovered from that trough throughout the day, even bouncing above its previous close, but the stock was down 3.8 percent on the day as of 3:45 pm ET.

Ackman isn’t the only one turning on Lutnick, either. In a letter to shareholders on Monday, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon — arguably the most prominent figure in corporate America — warned of the potential negative consequences of the economic drama, saying that “whether or not the menu of tariffs causes a recession remains in question, but it will slow down growth, according to Reuters.

The letter followed a meeting on Thursday hosted by the Financial Services Forum, which gave CEOs an opportunity to ask Lutnick questions after he discussed Trump’s strategy.

Administration officials and Trump allies have privately turned Lutnick into the boogeyman of the tariff chaos, setting him up to take the fall if the policy backfires; the stock market is in the midst of its third straight day of intense volatility.

— Holden Walter-Warner