Ken Griffin, founder and CEO of hedge fund giant Citadel, has cautioned that the Trump administration’s trade policies and rhetoric risk undermining the credibility of the US Treasury market — a cornerstone of global finance – according to a report by Reuters.
Speaking at a Semafor-hosted conference, Griffin urged President Trump and key cabinet members to be more mindful of the long-term reputational impact on US debt instruments.
“The President, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the Secretary of Commerce need to behave in a way that respects and strengthens the brand of US Treasuries,” said Griffin. “When you tarnish that brand, it can take a lifetime to repair the damage.”
His remarks come amid a wave of volatility in the Treasury market, with the week of 7 April seeing one of the sharpest yield surges since 2001, sparked by escalating tariff tensions and broader trade policy uncertainty.
Although Griffin, a long-time Republican donor who supported Trump in the last election, clarified he is not inherently opposed to tariffs, he warned that unpredictable trade policy is undermining the administration’s own goals.
“The trade war has devolved into a nonsensical place,” Griffin said. “Policy volatility is the very thing that dissuades firms from investing in US manufacturing. It’s self-defeating.”
Griffin’s comments reflect wider concerns within the hedge fund and macro investing community, where confidence in US Treasuries as a risk-free benchmark is critical for everything from leverage modelling to global risk-parity strategies.
While he criticised the administration’s handling of trade, Griffin was more upbeat about other policy moves, notably praising cost-cutting initiatives by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and more stringent border immigration enforcement.
