• Ken Griffin argues that while many voters supported Donald Trump expecting lower inflation and improved living standards, Trump’s tariff policies risk causing price hikes and undermining that goal. He urges Trump to reconsider his foreign policy and warns that reshoring manufacturing could be inherently inflationary, putting further pressure on Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s already difficult role in managing interest rates amid economic uncertainty.

Ken Griffin believes that when voters backed Donald Trump to the Oval Office, one of their main motivations was the belief that he would lower inflation and improve their standard of living.

Yet a couple of months after Trump’s inauguration, consumer confidence is suffering as they eye potential price hikes because of Trump’s tariff regime.

As a result, the Citadel founder and CEO has encouraged Trump to think “long and hard” about his foreign policy strategy moving forward.

“Ultimately, any effort to force manufacturing back onshore in the United States is going to be inflationary,” Griffin told a Bloomberg podcast in an episode released today.

“There’s no doubt about it. And what frustrates me on this is that one of the reasons that Trump won the election was the American people had had enough of inflation.

“They wanted a break from seeing their standard of living deteriorate by the ever-increasing price of goods and services.”

Since the campaign trail when the president first began floating tariffs as a way to rebalance trade with the rest of the world’s economies, experts have been concerned.

Their caution has covered American isolation through to fear of trade wars, and also price rises which would be expected to be passed back to consumers.

There is some debate over how inflationary tariffs may prove to be—after all, the sharpest end of the policy hasn’t yet been felt. President Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs were paused a little over a week later, and reduced to 10% for the 90-day interim.

Likewise, while tariffs on nations like Canada and Mexico went ahead—and for a brief period, the 145% hike on Chinese imports—some reprieve can now be found in the further breather from tariffs announced by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday.

Yet even with the tariff levels coming down, a 10% blanket raise on all imports will likely still raise prices.

“I really think that the president needs to think long and hard about … protect[ing] the standard of living of the American people,” Griffin added.

A Navigator survey of more than 5,000 voters in November found that the top reasons people backed the Republican candidate were that he would bring down inflation and improve the state of the national economy.

Likewise, in the weeks before the election, a New York Times and Siena College poll found 52% of people trusted Trump to lead the economy over Kamala Harris, who scored 45%.

Griffin added that Americans may not even want the jobs that rebalancing the trade deficit may open up: “I don’t understand why we think it’s a virtue to bring back to America low-skilled jobs in manufacturing. I complete agree with the president, we need the ability to ramp up our manufacturing base to strengthen our national defense—spot on.

“I don’t think the American people are looking for a return to low-skilled, low-paying manufacturing jobs in our country. I don’t think they want those jobs.”

Powell’s impossible task

Griffin, worth $43 billion according to Forbes, added that Fed chairman Jerome Powell’s job is not one he would relish in the current environment.

Powell has been criticized by fellow economists and President Trump directly, who even suggested he would remove Powell from his post if he didn’t cut the base rate.

Opinions are divided on whether Powell and the Federal Open Market Committee should normalize the base rate further to offset any economic slowdown or whether they are right to hold out for more data in an uncertain environment.

“I’m really happy not to have [Powell’s] job,” Griffin told the ‘Bullish’ podcast. “He has the biggest no-win job in the country because, through the lens of hindsight, we will always be able to second-guess every single decision he makes.

“Right here, right now, he’s grappling with how do you cut rates as the labor market shows ever so slightly signs of softening? Or do you hold the course because of the risk of an inflationary spike coming from tariff increases? He’s going to have to make that decision based upon evolving policies over the weeks ahead—it’s a really tough predicament he’s in.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

• United is boosting its international business-class service. Starting in 2027, some flyers will have access to caviar service, pajamas, and noise-cancelling headphones. The luxury will come with a premium price tag, though.

Flying business class on an international flight is getting swankier on United Airlines.

The carrier is upgrading the perks to passengers in its Polaris Studio suites starting next year, offering caviar, noise-cancelling headphones, and a soft pair of pajamas to lure flyers to buy a ticket.

The new seating will be a part of a refreshed cabin design in Boeing Dreamliner jets. By 2027, United expects to have 30 planes converted.

Each of those will have eight of the Polaris Studios. And if people back in coach thought they were jealous of the people in the front of the plane before, they haven’t seen anything yet.

The studios will be 25% bigger than current Polaris seats (which have more legroom and convert to a lie-flat bed for sleeping. There will, of course, be privacy doors and some will include an extra ottoman (with a seatbelt) for visitors to the passenger.

As you might expect, this sort of luxury comes with a price—and United’s not ready to disclose that yet. Current Polaris seats are a little under four times the cost of an economy ticket, however.

United is the latest carrier to upgrade its business-class seating. Delta currently offers suites with doors as part of its Delta One service on select flights, and American will offer doored suites starting this summer.

Other passengers will see some upgrades as well. United says flyers in Premium Plus seats will have access to privacy dividers and wireless charging pads. And everyone on the planes will be getting bigger seat back screens.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

JD.com recorded a jump in first-quarter revenue Tuesday, as the Chinese e-commerce giant makes a costly push to establish itself in the country’s highly competitive food delivery sector.

The Beijing-based shopping platform has faced pressure in recent years from a persistent domestic spending slump and heightened competition with its primary rival, Alibaba.

Investors are now closely watching for signs of how JD.com will fare in its bid to challenge dominant food delivery provider Meituan, after launching its own meal service in February.

JD.com achieved net revenue of 301.1 billion yuan ($41.8 billion) in the three-month period ended March 31, according to results published to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The figure represented a 15.8% year-on-year leap, outpacing a Bloomberg forecast of 12% and more than twice as fast as last year’s first-quarter growth of 7%.

Net income, meanwhile, came in at 10.9 billion yuan during the first quarter, improving from 7.1 billion yuan during the same period last year.

The profit rise came despite a costly initiative to waive delivery fees this year for eateries that registered before May 1, in an attempt to grab market share from Meituan and Alibaba’s Ele.me.

The company on Tuesday hailed “substantial progress in a very brief time” for its expansion into food delivery.

JD.com’s foray into the food sector comes as Beijing increasingly embraces online service platforms as a useful driver of employment and domestic consumption in the face of broader pressures on growth.

But fiercer competition has also raised concerns of unfair practices.

China’s top market supervisor said Tuesday evening that it has in recent days summoned top food delivery providers including JD.com, Meituan and Ele.me for talks, urging them to abide by e-commerce laws.

Citing “outstanding problems in the current competition in the food delivery industry”, the State Administration for Market Regulation said that it and several other government departments had required the firms to “promote the standardized, healthy and orderly development of the platform economy”.

JD.com CEO Sandy Xu said on Tuesday that the company’s earnings were boosted by “improving consumer sentiment and continued enhancements to JD’s supply chain capabilities and user experience”.

This contrasts with official data released over the weekend showing that spending in the world’s number two economy remains mired in a slump.

On Monday China and the United States announced a substantial—if temporary—reduction on mutual import tariffs following talks in Geneva aimed at easing their trade war.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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