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Bill Ackman, CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, appeared Thursday morning on Squawk on the Street to talk about President-elect Donald Trump’s high-profile visit to the New York Stock Exchange and his economic agenda, saying that the United States was set to usher in the most pro-growth, pro-business administration in his adult life. 

.@BillAckman on @CNBC: America is stepping into the most pro-growth, pro-business administration in my adult lifetime pic.twitter.com/8CTxs5Vly6

— CAPITAL (@capitalnewshq) December 12, 2024

CARL QUINTANILLA: What do you make of today?

BILL ACKMAN: It is a great day. The president is in great spirits and we are stepping into the most progrowth, pro-business, pro-American administration that I have seen in my adult lifetime, certainly.

CARL QUINTANILLA: The President mentioned the word incentive. Upstairs, downstairs. How would you characterize corporate America’s appetite for responding to those?

BILL ACKMAN: We just had a nice little ceremony. The CEOs, a broad array of big American companies. I would say everyone is incredibly enthusiastic. Really about a new administration on efficiency, removing the impediments to growth and deregulation. A lot of the confidence that comes from that.

DAVID FABER: I hear that as well, of course. The things that seem to concern some people are the unknown. Tariffs and deportation. Do you share that concern? What is your sense as to how that will go and the impact on inflation is obviously a key component. Potentially both are quite deep and severe.

BILL ACKMAN: With respect to immigration, the President is very focused on the safety of the American people and having an open border and not vetting people coming not, not having criminals in the country, that’s a pro-economy move—to get rid of people causing harm.

DAVID FABER: That’s 100,000 people, not 11 million, potentially.

BILL ACKMAN: Unfortunately, I think it’s more than that. The overarching thing is President Trump will do nothing that interferes with the success of the country, the success of the economy. Other than national defense, that’s his number one issue. I think he’s being very thoughts about tariffs. It is a very powerful tool that can be used to level the playing field. He wants a level playing field.

JIM CRAMER: What do we say to someone like Janet Yellen, the Secretary of Treasury, who says, we have to be very careful. Many things can go wrong with what he is talking about. I’m not hearing that from you, obviously.

BILL ACKMAN: I would say I’m more optimistic about the economy and the country than I have been in a long time.

JIM CRAMER: And you were very early on the bandwagon. Others were not. It seems to be a change of tune.

BILL ACKMAN: I don’t know anyone opposed to the business plan of this next administration. And it is a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy. At the backdrop is that you have a Fed lowering rates and inflation under control. You have the FTC, which will be more thoughtful about allowing transactions to happen. That is very bullish for markets. We talk about it all the time. We have the wealth effect. The biggest investment for most people today is the pension or the stock market-related portfolio. Housing prices going up. So, meaningful increases in asset values in a short period of time. That has a pro-economy effect. A lot of these are pro-secular in a positive way for the economy.

I think it makes sense that he chose the spot to accept his Time Magazine cover.

CARL QUINTANILLA: You can imagine one of the negative things to get written will be that this is optically about Wall Street and not Main Street. Although the president talked about that these are the companies that employ people and he wants people that want to go to work in the morning.

BILL ACKMAN: I think most of the country understands that the more successful businesses are, the more the stock market goes up. And the more wages rise, the more job growth, and the more opportunity, and the more businesses that come to the country. It lifts all. I think the President got elected because of a large, wide base that includes low-income people in the country. That is what he feels a responsibility to.

DAVID FABER: You are an investor. I’m curious, given your outlook broadly speaking, are there any sectors that you think will benefit in particular from the incoming administration?

BILL ACKMAN: I think it is good for the economy. It is good for moderating inflation. It is good for the U.S. I had the chance to talk to Doug Burgum, the Secretary of the Interior. There are a lot of things we can do geopolitically. Being able to offer LNG to the Koreans, for example, something we haven’t been able to do. Very important for that small country that feels very vulnerable. These are things that we can do to improve relations and help us on trade. Howard Lutnick will be a strong advocate for promoting the United States and trade in a thoughtful way.

CARL QUINTANILLA: The ECB cut 25 today. Lagarde said growth is slowing. Do you think Europe responds in a conciliatory way or is there a retaliatory way to their response?

BILL ACKMAN: I think Europe is in a very vulnerable position. I think the economy generally, the United States, they need to have important, strong relationships with the United States. They have no choice. I think they will operate that way. I’m very bullish on America. I’m kind of bearish on Europe. And I think they need to make some fairly dramatic changes politically and otherwise. One of the more powerful charts, look at the market cap of companies, the number of companies above $500 billion or whatever here versus Europe.