Tariffs soared. The supply chain is tangled. Small businesses are doing their own support. But amid economic friction, a surprising gesture from China may have opened the door to compromise.

Hedge Fund Billionaire on April 17 Bill Akerman He responded to Beijing’s proposal for his own tariff proposal, calling the development a hopeful signal: “The Rift is recovering,” he commented on X. Ackman’s comments after China called on the U.S. to revoke its additional trade taxes in Washington, after which Washington took action to exempt certain electronic products from tax collections.

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The trade war has escalated in recent months. The Trump administration steadily raised tariffs on Chinese imports, reaching a peak of 145% in early April. In return, China imposed a 125% retaliatory tariff on U.S. goods, triggering disruptions from various departments on both sides of the Pacific.

According to Reuters, China's Ministry of Commerce urged the United States to completely eliminate tariffs and based on "mutual respect."

Ackman, founder of Pershing Square Capital Management, weighed the trade-offs on April 13 via X post.

"If President Trump wants to suspend Chinese tariffs for 90 days and temporarily reduce them to 10%, he will achieve the same goal to allow U.S. companies to relocate supply chains from China without causing interference and risk to those companies in the short term," he wrote.

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Ackman explained that this will give us small and medium-sized businesses a breather to adjust their supply chains without immediate financial impact.

He also clarified that such a move would not indicate weakness. "The result is countries negotiate deals with governments," he wrote. This means such a move will promote U.S. negotiation power if tariffs are transformed into strategic pauses.

The comments come a few days after Trump exempted critical electronic devices and semiconductor projects from new reciprocity tariffs. According to Ackerman, the exemption triggered a reaction from China and now creates a vacancy for real negotiations.

At the same time, the impact of the trade war is becoming increasingly obvious. Boeing (NYSE: BA) 737 Max Jetlaner, originally purchased by China's Xiamen Airlines, was returned to the United States on April 20 due to import costs.