LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman recently said that tariffs are “terrible” for Americans. Hoffman, who has been an outspoken critic of Trump administration, recently appeared on a Wired podcast where he highlighted several key decisions that he considers are “terrible”. “The way that ICE is operating is terrible for people. Tariffs are terrible for people. Anti-vaccination is terrible for children’s health,” Hoffman said during the podcast. During his second term, Donald Trump has enacted a series of tariffs on different countries including China, India and Russia. Last week, Trump approved a 500% tariff on Russian oil and withdraws from the ISA. He recently announced a 25% tariff on countries trading with Iran. While ICE or the Immigration and Customs Enforcement has taken the lead in carrying out the Trump administration’s mass deportation, a central promise of his 2024 election campaign. The agency has made thousands of arrests since January last year.
LinkedIn founder to tech leaders: Speak up
During the podcast, Hoffman also kinda criticised silicon valley leaders saying:“I think there’s a bunch of people in Silicon Valley who disagree with [the administration], but they’re like, “Well, look, if I speak up or do things, then I am challenging my company. I’m gonna get hostile retaliation, I’ll get a regulatory thing..”.Advising tech CEOs to speak up, Reid Hoffman said:“What I’m hopeful for in ’26 is for more people speaking up. Speaking truth to power is the point of freedom of speech, is the point of American society,” he said adding “I think that there’s a bunch of different factions in the Valley that have been keeping their head down out of this fear of retaliation under a rationalization of: Hey, my contribution is to build this new company.”“Just speak up about the things that you think are true. Do that and do not let fear and intimidation and hostility, the weaponization of the artifacts of state, quiet you,” he further stated.
LinkedIn founder on Epstein files
LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman recently called for release of Epstein files after he was linked. Commenting about his relationship with Epstein, Reid said:“I had a small number of interactions [with Epstein], as you know, fundraising for MIT, and have apologized for that. Once I realized what was involved in that, I was like, ‘Oh shit, this is terrible. I’m really sorry’”. “I didn’t even know who Epstein was in the whole, like when he was put in prison and released as a registered sex offender and so forth. It was all political attacking”.
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