Milken Crowd Signals Support For Trump’s Tariffs While Slamming All The Chaos

At Monday’s Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, Bloomberg reported that attendees were “warming up” to President Trump’s tariff war, recognizing a growing urgency to reset trade relationships with key partners after decades of disastrous industrial policies that hollowed out America’s core. Still, top investors and financial executives voiced concern over prolonged trade volatility and uncertainty.

The Milken conference, hosted by former junk-bond king Michael Milken, featured US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent discussing how the Trump administration’s tariff war with top trading partners encourages re-industrialization. 

Bessent said that tariffs, tax cuts, and deregulation are “interlocking parts of an engine” to boost America’s economy, telling the audience: ”I hope you can see the bigger picture now.”

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the Trump administration’s tariffs will lead to better terms of trade and stronger trading relationships during a conversation with Michael Milken at The Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California… pic.twitter.com/5NP1kHjnob

— Bloomberg TV (@BloombergTV) May 5, 2025

Bloomberg provided a consensus snapshot of attendees’ sentiments about trade policies: “Investing titans and financial leaders at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills lined up to say they can live with tariffs and a reworking of trade—just get it settled soon.”

For instance, Apollo CEO Marc Rowan told Bloomberg TV, “What the administration wants to do is not wrong.” However, he warned that the tariffs create “uncertainty” and could lead to “two quarters of negative growth” if that uncertainty isn’t resolved.

Apollo CEO Marc Rowan sides with President Donald Trump on tariffs, and says uncertainty around tariffs could be harmful to the economy https://t.co/HDQlkcvjKQ pic.twitter.com/lk679Jv66Q

— Bloomberg TV (@BloombergTV) May 5, 2025

Here’s more from Rowan, once a top contender for Bessent’s spot at the Treasury:

“The issues that separate us from Mexico are not existential to Mexico. As one leading Mexican industrialist said to me, if it takes tariffs to make Mexico great again, so be it,” says Apollo CEO Marc Rowan https://t.co/ghwmNLoJQA pic.twitter.com/ZCGvrOvNwP

— Bloomberg TV (@BloombergTV) May 5, 2025

Michael Goosay, chief investment officer for fixed income at Principal Asset Management, said in an interview at Milken that while tariff uncertainty has cast a dark cloud over the macroeconomic outlook, growth could rebound strongly once a trade resolution is reached.

“If we get through this without a lot of additional friction, we think we are in an environment where you can actually see a reacceleration of growth in the latter part of the year and into 2026,” Goosay said.

Several money managers told Bloomberg it would be helpful if the Trump administration could announce a few deals with trading partners to get a rough framework of the future. They noted that trade resolutions would unleash long-term capital into revitalizing America’s industrial base and fund infrastructure.

KKR co-founder George Roberts told the audience: “Stay calm and carry on.” 

Roberts said trade deals are being made out of necessity, and the administration has already dialed back some of its more restrictive trade policies.

Separate from the conference, Goldman published a note last week featuring a chart suggesting that uncertainty around trade peaked.

Trump is a dealmaker. It’s only a matter of time before trade deal resolutions begin hitting the wires.