Over the past few weeks, that economic picture has shifted drastically. When former President Donald Trump announced the first of many new tariffs, it sent shockwaves through global markets. Even business mogul Bernard Arnault, CEO of luxury conglomerate LVMH, is sweating the fiscal burden. Ironies of ironies, his wealth has seen a huge drop thanks to Trump’s policies. The U.S. is an extremely important market for Trump’s business empire, roughly the same size as all European sales combined.
Trump’s announcement of sweeping “liberation day” tariffs resulted in a staggering collective loss of $536 billion for the world’s 500 richest individuals. When the tariffs went into effect, Arnault’s net worth tanked by $6 billion in a single day. This stark decline underscores just how dramatically economic transitions can impact even the most glamorous of billionaires.
The longtime friendship between Trump and Arnault dates back to the early 1980s when they met at a charity dinner. This mutually beneficial relationship hasn’t really wavered through the decades, with Arnault even appearing at Trump’s second inauguration earlier this year with his family. The recent economic environment has tested their alliance as Trump’s tariffs disproportionately affect key markets.
Trump’s imposition of a 20% tariff on European goods and tariffs reaching 54% on garment manufacturing in Asian countries has severely disrupted supply chains. These tariffs have hit hard the Asian factory hubs essential to the overall global garment industry. They are already creating a pebble-in-the-pond ripple that is extending all the way into the technology sectors. For instance, Trump’s tariffs have impacted China-based sellers, who dominate Amazon’s third-party marketplace with more than a 50% market share.
The repercussions do not end there. Amazon’s cloud services business, which relies heavily on technology produced by manufacturers in Asian nations such as Taiwan, has felt the weight of Trump’s trade policies. Trump’s actions are reshaping those individual fortunes in profound ways. They are completely rewriting the rules of global commerce.
Many of these critics have received Donald Trump’s economic policies with alarm. Even Amazon founder Jeff Bezos stopped funding to a Trump-created climate-certification organization earlier this year when he opposed the terms, pulling out over disagreements with Trump’s administration. Meanwhile, Trump recently shared a video on his social media platform, Truth Social, that inaccurately suggested Warren Buffett praised his economic strategies, further complicating the narrative surrounding his administration’s impact.
No one can forget the turmoil that Trump’s border tax announcements immediately unleashed, rocking global stock markets. Consequently, a lot of his business friends found it hard to deal with the damage. Arnault and fellow billionaires Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg include all of these policies Damage to their net worth. As a result, they have lost a colossal amount of wealth.
Arnault expressed mixed feelings about his recent visit to the U.S., stating:
“I have just returned from the US, and I have witnessed the winds of optimism in that country.” – Bernard Arnault
He remarked on the challenges of returning to France after experiencing the optimism in America:
“Coming back to France is a bit like taking a cold shower.” – Bernard Arnault
These contradictory, yet optimistic sentiments are representative of the complicated and often confusing environment that international business interests are operating in during the Trump administration. Where some people see great opportunity, others see great risk.