Billionaire Ken Griffin warns that U.S. brand is "eroding"

Fortune

Ken Griffin addressed the impact of the Trump administration’s ongoing tariff policies on Wednesday, warning that the global reputation of the U.S. is at stake.

Transcript

00:00You actually picked exactly the right word, the American brand, right? The United States

00:06was more than just a nation. It's a brand. It's a universal brand, whether it's our culture,

00:12our financial strength, our military strength. America rose beyond just being a country. It

00:18was like an aspiration for most of the world. And we're eroding that brand right now. And if

00:24you think of your behavior as a consumer, how many times do you buy a product with a brand on it

00:28because you trust that brand? You know you could buy a similar dress with no name for less money,

00:34but you want the dress that you think is going to not fall apart in two weeks. You want the handbag

00:38that you think is well made. You want the television that you know that when you turn it on, it's going

00:42to work perfectly. You want the car that when you turn the engine on, it's going to run. And when it

00:46comes to money management, for example, there are many great American institutions whose the power

00:51of their brand, that they will deliver a fair service at a fair price, that they'll do well by

00:56their investors and put their investors' interest first, whether it's a BlackRock or Fidelity.

01:01These are global brands of immense power. But in the financial markets, no brand compared to the

01:06brand of the U.S. Treasuries. U.S. Treasury market, the strength of the U.S. dollar and the strength,

01:12the creditworthiness of U.S. Treasuries. No brand came close. We put that brand at risk.

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