Trump's trade war may bring $750 bn bounty for US, middle-class Americans may not have to pay income tax: Billionaire Chamath Palihapitiya

Billionaire investor Chamath Palihapitiya has backed U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff strategy, calling it a bold move that could lead to a massive redistribution of American wealth.

In a recent interview with Andrew Schulz, Palihapitiya explained, “Tariffs have a dual-pronged impact. They begin to realign the world order and allow us to take back control of many global markets.”

He estimated that the tariffs could generate as much as $750 billion annually—potentially enough to eliminate income taxes for middle-class Americans.


“The system we built over the last 30 years has hollowed out the middle class. This wasn’t a trade war—it was a trade massacre,” Palihapitiya said, arguing that the current global trade setup has disproportionately benefited other nations at America's expense.

Highlighting the growing trade imbalance, he pointed out that the U.S. has become primarily a consumption-driven economy over the past 25 years. “Eighty percent of our economy is just consumers buying stuff. The rest of the world makes an enormous amount of money by feeding that beast,” he said.

Palihapitiya also defended the Trump administration's approach to calculating tariffs. “I think the way they implemented it was very clever. They made one mistake in the language—they used the word ‘reciprocal’ when they should’ve used ‘proportional,’” he noted.

Palihapitiya’s comments received support from Adam Oxsen, CEO of ROX Energy Capital, who shared the interview on X (formerly Twitter), writing: “He exposed the truth about Trump’s tariffs... Trump’s tariffs aren’t just about punishing China. They represent the most significant economic reshuffling in modern American history. This is wealth redistribution on a massive scale—but not in the way most people think.”



Oxsen highlighted Palihapitiya’s credibility, noting his experience building billion-dollar companies and his role as an early Facebook executive. “He understands global capital flows better than most policymakers. And he sees something in Trump’s tariff plan that most are missing,” Oxsen wrote.

Quoting Palihapitiya, Oxsen pointed out that the U.S. has lost over 5 million manufacturing jobs since 2000.

He also backed Palihapitiya’s criticism of corporations that maximize profits by “paying minimal taxes, avoiding environmental regulations, and cutting labor costs.”

Watch the full interview here: