Investor in Summerlin’s developer fears ‘economic nuclear war’ over tariffs
Hedge-fund magnate Bill Ackman, who has a big ownership stake in Summerlin developer Howard Hughes Holdings, is raising alarms about President Donald Trump’s “economic nuclear war” and the shattering confidence in America.
Ackman, the billionaire founder and CEO of New York-based Pershing Square Capital Management, said on X on Sunday that Trump has elevated tariffs to the most important geopolitical issue in the world and that other countries have taken advantage of the U.S. by protecting their home industries.
But by placing “massive and disproportionate tariffs on our friends and our enemies alike and thereby launching a global economic war against the whole world at once, we are in the process of destroying confidence in our country as a trading partner, as a place to do business, and as a market to invest capital,” Ackman wrote.
If the U.S. launches “economic nuclear war on every country in the world, business investment will grind to a halt, consumers will close their wallets and pocket books, and we will severely damage our reputation with the rest of the world that will take years and potentially decades to rehabilitate,” he added.
‘Economic nuclear winter’
Stock markets plunged Thursday after Trump announced sweeping new tariffs on countries around the globe. Financial markets dropped hard again Friday after the Chinese government retaliated with a 34 percent tariff on all U.S. imports.
Casino stocks were not spared the carnage, as Las Vegas-based companies’ share prices were battered by the turmoil.
Overall, U.S. stocks shed $6.6 trillion in value last week, The Wall Street Journal reported.
“When markets crash, new investment stops, consumers stop spending money, and businesses have no choice but to curtail investment and fire workers,” Ackman wrote Sunday.
He added that the president is “losing the confidence of business leaders around the globe” and that the consequences for America and Trump’s supporters “are going to be severely negative. This is not what we voted for.”
All told, the U.S. could be headed toward a “self-induced, economic nuclear winter, and we should start hunkering down,” Ackman wrote, adding: “May cooler heads prevail.”
Las Vegas links
Ackman is linked to Southern Nevada through his ownership stake in real estate developer Hughes Holdings. The company, which has projects and properties in several states, sells land in Summerlin to homebuilders and has developed hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of projects in the heart of Las Vegas’ biggest master-planned community.
Summerlin, which spans 22,500 acres along the valley’s western rim, boasts 130,000 residents and some of the highest home prices in Southern Nevada.
Early this year, Ackman’s firm owned 37.6 percent of Hughes Holdings’ stock and offered to buy out other shareholders in the company for $1 billion total.
He later withdrew that bid and submitted a revised proposal to acquire 10 million newly issued shares in Hughes Holdings for $900 million.
Under that deal, his firm’s ownership stake would climb to 48 percent. Ackman also would become chairman and chief executive of Hughes Holdings, which he wants to turn into a diversified holding company that buys controlling stakes in other companies while still developing master-planned communities.
Texas-based Hughes Holdings rejected the offer but said it entered a standstill agreement with Ackman’s firm to “facilitate further discussions to explore potential alternatives.”
Shares in Hughes Holdings closed Friday at $67.40, down 10 percent from Wednesday’s closing price.
Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342.
