BlackRock CEO Larry Fink caught by surprise at breadth of Trump’s tariffs: ‘Way beyond anything I imagined…’

BlackRock Inc. Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink said he was caught by surprise at the breadth of President Donald Trump’s tariffs last week on many countries, including key US trading partners.

“The sweeping US tariff announcements went beyond anything I could have imagined in my 49 years in finance,” Fink said on a call on Friday with analysts after the company reported first-quarter financial results.

The president imposed the steepest tariffs in a century on April 2, sparking markets to sell off around the globe. On April 3 and 4, the S&P 500 Index had its steepest two-day plunge since the March 2020 onset of the pandemic. 

“This isn’t Wall Street versus Main Street,” Fink told analysts Friday. “The market downturn impacts millions of ordinary people’s retirement savings.”

The US is either very close to a recession or already in one, Fink said in a CNBC interview after the analyst call. He said he was shocked at the 10-Year Treasury’s reaction in the wake of Trump’s tariffs.

Trump partially backed down on his trade war Wednesday, calling for a 90-day pause on “reciprocal tariffs” while keeping 10% duties on most countries. But Trump hasn’t wavered on China, with tariffs of 145% on imports from that country.

In the short run, inflationary pressures and anxiety dominate client discussions, according to Fink. Investors have put an all-time high — about $950 billion — in cash accounts at BlackRock as of April, money that could eventually be invested in stocks, bonds and private markets, he said.

“Yes, in the short run, we have an economy that is at risk,” Fink said. But he added that artificial intelligence and surging infrastructure demand present “transformative investment opportunities.”  Fink also raised the prospect that investors will allocate more money to Europe in the future.