The billionaire chief of asset management firm BlackRock warned that the Trump administration’s nationalistic policies and deportation blitz could slash the agricultural workforce so much that crops could be left rotting in the ground.
Larry Fink, whose company fulfilled President Donald Trump’s Panama Canal takeover dreams by buying two ports at either end of the waterway, said the administration’s massive deportation push could lead to a massive shortage of farm workers as soon as the spring harvest season.
“I do believe deportations, in the speed at which it is happening, is going to have severe impact on the agricultural sector and the construction sector,” Fink said Tuesday at S&P Global’s CERAWeek energy conference in Houston, Texas. “I think we’re going to start seeing, especially when spring and the spring crops arrive, are we going to have enough workers to harvest the crops?”
Citing his conversations with other CEOs, Fink said about 70 percent of agriculture workers and 40 percent of construction workers were not born in the United States.
“You add that up and what’s going on?” he said. “With the whole idea that we’re going to have to use a private capital to build up this economy, are we going to have enough workers?”
The number of border crossers has plummeted to record lows since Trump suspended refugee admissions on his first day back in office—but February data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement obtained by NBC News showed that the government continues to fall short of the president’s promise to enact the largest deportation operation in American history.
Fink said a worker shortage would have elevated inflation “embedded” in it, though he foresees “big deflation” in the next few years thanks to the advancement of AI.
The billionaire also warned the Trump administration that its “America First” policy comes with a price.
“I think if we all are becoming a little more nationalistic—and I’m not saying that’s a bad thing—it does resonate with me that it’s going to have elevated inflation,” Fink said. “When I go to Washington, when they talk about these policies, at what cost are you willing to tolerate that?”
Though Fink is a lifelong Democrat, he recently delivered a big win for Trump.
Under a deal announced last week, BlackRock and other investors would spend over $22 billion to buy the Balboa and Cristobal ports in the Panama Canal from Hong Kong company CK Hutchison. BlackRock will also purchase CK Hutchison’s controlling interest in 43 other ports.
Trump had previously expressed frustration at Chinese influence over the major waterway and threatened multiple times to “take back” control of the Panama Canal, which belongs to the Panamanian government.
“China is operating the Panama Canal. And we didn’t give it to China. We gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back,” Trump said in his inaugural address.
