Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Atlantic, called President Trump’s trade policies “erratic,” “unpredictable” and harmful to people around the world.
In remarks to British news reporters, widely reported in numerous international outlets, the billionaire businessman issued a forceful rebuke of how the U.S. president has approached his second term, particularly with his economic and foreign policies.
“The unpredictability is just awful for everybody around the world,” Branson said. “It’s just erratic, unpredictable, which is very, very difficult for business to deal with.”
“An unsettled world is not good for anybody. People delay decisions on investment and spending,” he continued.
“If he continues, he’s in such danger of doing so much damage in the world,” he added.
The comments come as Trump has dramatically changed the U.S. approach to foreign policy and global alliances in just a matter of months. He announced various waves of sweeping tariffs before announcing a 90-day pause on some higher tariffs to allow time for countries to try and strike a deal with the U.S.
Branson criticized this approach and said he could foresee a situation where the U.S. ends up excluded from trade deals.
“You can see a world where Europe, Australia, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, China, all trade together and build a powerhouse in years to come,” he said. “There is a big market out there, which you could find America gets excluded from, a lot of imports and exports.”
Branson said he doesn’t think the majority of Americans support what Trump is doing.
“I honestly think this is a fairly small elite [group] of people around Trump,” he said. “I don’t think he is carrying the vast majority of Americans in what he is doing.”
“Most American people are decent individuals,” Branson said. “I’m just sad, incredibly sad. And many, many, many Americans I know are just very sad.”
Source link
