Key Takeaways
- • Citadel CEO Ken Griffin said at the Citadel Securities Future of Global Markets event that tariffs have been "pro-inflation" and have severed global supply chains, declaring that he had been right to be skeptical of the America First agenda.
- • Griffin argued that most Americans "don't want to live that dream" of factory work, pointing to a 4.2% unemployment rate as evidence that reindustrialization through labor is unrealistic.
- • Moody's chief economist Mark Zandi said native-born unemployment has begun rising because U.S.-born workers are unwilling to take physically arduous jobs historically filled by immigrants at current wages.
- • Griffin advocated robotics and AI-driven automation as the path to U.S. manufacturing of essential goods, tied to his $3 billion gift to Carnegie Mellon University Miami announced in September.
- • Manufacturing employed about 12.6 million Americans, 7.4% of total employment in 2025, with the Bureau of Labor Statistics projecting 7.2% by 2035, and Bill Gates has proposed a robot tax to offset displacement.
Summary
Citadel founder and CEO Ken Griffin has publicly disputed the core premise of President Trump's "America First" reindustrialization agenda, which Trump announced on "Liberation Day" with the promise that "jobs and factories will come roaring back into our country." Speaking at the Citadel Securities Future of Global Markets event, Griffin described tariffs as a "disaster" and said, "To be blunt, like, I hate to say it, but I've been right. It's been pro-inflation." He added that tariffs "have certainly taken supply chains around the world and severed them," according to Fortune.
Griffin argued that the plan was flawed from the outset, citing the current 4.2% unemployment rate and stating that "most people don't want to live that dream. They don't want to be in factories making Nike's and T-shirts." Fortune reports that Moody's chief economist Mark Zandi has observed a rise in native-born unemployment this year, based on a 12-month moving average of seasonally unadjusted data. Zandi told Fortune that U.S.-born workers are reluctant to take jobs historically held by immigrant workers, and that filling them would require wages high enough to make many businesses uneconomic. He described the jobs as "very difficult, very arduous jobs that require a lot of physical hardship."
In place of labor-intensive reindustrialization, Griffin advocated robotics, increasingly capable thanks to artificial intelligence, to run U.S. factories producing essential goods. He framed this as a route to greater independence on items critical to national interests. Griffin announced a $3 billion gift to Carnegie Mellon University Miami in September to pursue the "next era of American innovation."
The automation argument carries its own labor-market tradeoffs. The St. Louis Fed estimates approximately 12.6 million Americans work in manufacturing, predominantly in electrical and component manufacturing. The Bureau of Labor Statistics put the sector at 7.4% of total employment in 2025, expected to fall to 7.2% by 2035. Although manufacturing is smaller than retail, healthcare, or state and local government in employment terms, it remains a major source of jobs. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates proposed a robot tax in an August essay to slow the shift away from human labor and fund retraining and a stronger safety net, while arguing it should be targeted so as not to hinder beneficial AI applications such as medicine and education.
Griffin argued that the plan was flawed from the outset, citing the current 4.2% unemployment rate and stating that "most people don't want to live that dream. They don't want to be in factories making Nike's and T-shirts." Fortune reports that Moody's chief economist Mark Zandi has observed a rise in native-born unemployment this year, based on a 12-month moving average of seasonally unadjusted data. Zandi told Fortune that U.S.-born workers are reluctant to take jobs historically held by immigrant workers, and that filling them would require wages high enough to make many businesses uneconomic. He described the jobs as "very difficult, very arduous jobs that require a lot of physical hardship."
In place of labor-intensive reindustrialization, Griffin advocated robotics, increasingly capable thanks to artificial intelligence, to run U.S. factories producing essential goods. He framed this as a route to greater independence on items critical to national interests. Griffin announced a $3 billion gift to Carnegie Mellon University Miami in September to pursue the "next era of American innovation."
The automation argument carries its own labor-market tradeoffs. The St. Louis Fed estimates approximately 12.6 million Americans work in manufacturing, predominantly in electrical and component manufacturing. The Bureau of Labor Statistics put the sector at 7.4% of total employment in 2025, expected to fall to 7.2% by 2035. Although manufacturing is smaller than retail, healthcare, or state and local government in employment terms, it remains a major source of jobs. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates proposed a robot tax in an August essay to slow the shift away from human labor and fund retraining and a stronger safety net, while arguing it should be targeted so as not to hinder beneficial AI applications such as medicine and education.
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