By  Jared Evan

(TJV NEWS) Hedge fund titan Bill Ackman, known for his sharp insights into business and the economy, has come forward with a detailed defense of President Trump’s bold tariff strategy — and Gateway Pundit has been closely tracking the conversation.

.@VDHanson makes a compelling case for the @realDonaldTrump tariff strategy, but gets one issue incorrect. He describes the Trump tariffs as reciprocal and proportional to those other nations have assessed on us.

In actuality, the Trump tariffs were set at levels substantially… https://t.co/WdKggDlVbD

— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) April 5, 2025

While many critics have wrung their hands over Trump’s aggressive use of tariffs and worried about short-term market tremors, Gateway Pundit highlighted Ackman’s message posted on X, where he lays out why betting against Trump is a mistake.

In the post, Ackman responded to historian Victor Davis Hanson’s support of Trump’s trade tactics, saying Hanson got one crucial detail wrong:

“@VDHanson makes a compelling case for the @realDonaldTrump tariff strategy,” Ackman wrote, “but gets one issue incorrect… Trump tariffs were not reciprocal. They were substantially above — often multiples of — our trading partners’ tariffs.”

As Gateway Pundit emphasized, Ackman went on to explain that the markets initially reacted positively to the idea of “reciprocal tariffs” in Trump’s Rose Garden speech. But once the actual tariff charts were shown — revealing just how high Trump was willing to go — the market stumbled.

“Market participants support using tariffs to reduce asymmetrical trade barriers,” Ackman wrote, “but they fear tariff levels that dramatically exceed those of our trade partners.”

According to Ackman — again noted by Gateway Pundit — this strategy stems straight from Trump’s Art of the Deal playbook: start high, ask for the moon, and negotiate from there.

“It has worked for him before,” Ackman explained. “He’s using the same approach here.”

Of course, markets dislike uncertainty, and Ackman admits the fear isn’t just about whether the strategy works — it’s about whether it fails, leading to an economic slowdown. Capitalism runs on confidence, and “uncertainty is the enemy of business confidence,” he said.

Still, Gateway Pundit points out Ackman’s optimism that the strategy is bearing early fruit: several nations have already come to the negotiating table. If that trend continues, he says, we could hit a tipping point — one that leads to widespread deals and soaring stock prices.

Ackman emphasized, as Gateway Pundit noted, that contrary to mainstream media narratives, Wall Street is not fundamentally opposed to Trump’s push to revive the American industrial base. It’s just bracing for the high-stakes execution of the plan.

The recent market decline, Ackman added, has been exacerbated by the forced liquidation of positions at highly leveraged firms — not necessarily due to flaws in the tariff policy itself.

“Stocks of even the best companies are now trading at the cheapest valuations we’ve seen since Covid,” he wrote. “If Trump continues to make progress, uncertainty will drop — and markets will recover.”

Ackman’s closing advice? Don’t count Trump out — and don’t underestimate what market support can do to improve the odds of success.

“Trump’s strategy is not without risk, but I wouldn’t bet against him,” Ackman wrote, as Gateway Pundit noted. “A stable hand on the trading wheel is a patriotic one.”

He also noted Trump’s flexibility, a trait of strong leadership:

“We’ve seen him change course when the facts change. It’s only been two days. Too early to judge.”

As Gateway Pundit concluded in its reporting, Ackman believes Trump’s focus on the economy and the market as a scorecard will guide his next moves — whether it’s pushing forward, pivoting, or fine-tuning. “Let’s help him succeed,” Ackman urged. “It’s the least we can do