BlackRock CEO: 'Protectionism Has Returned With Force'

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink didn't mention President Trump by name in his widely read letter to shareholders in the world's largest asset manager—but days ahead of the rollout of Trump's latest tariffs, he noted that "protectionism has returned with force." "I hear it from nearly every client, nearly every leader—nearly every person—I talk to: They're more anxious about the economy than any time in recent memory," Fink wrote. "I understand why. But we have lived through moments like this before. And somehow, in the long run, we figure things out."

• Treading cautiously. Fink "treads cautiously" in the influential letter this year, Axios notes. In previous years, calls for BlackRock to do more to tackle climate change and improve workplace diversity led to a backlash from Republicans, reports Reuters. But with the rollback of diversity policies and a deal to buy Panama Canal ports from a Hong Kong-based company, the firm is back in the GOP's good books.

• "Not everyone has shared in this wealth." Fink said more people are investing in the US stock market, "but not everyone has shared in this wealth," the Financial Times reports. He said that while globalization lifted a billion people around the world out of poverty, "it also held back millions in wealthier nations striving for a better life." "The unspoken assumption is that capitalism didn't work and it's time to try something new," he wrote. "But there's another way to look at it: Capitalism did work—just for too few people."
• Leveling the playing field. Fink, whose firm oversees more than $11 trillion in assets, called for the "democratization" of investing, saying individuals should have greater access to the private assets that have delivered large returns to big investors like pension funds, the Wall Street Journal reports. "Assets that will define the future—data centers, ports, power grids, the world's fastest-growing private companies—aren't available to most investors," he wrote. "They're in private markets, locked behind high walls, with gates that open only for the wealthiest or largest market participants."

The full letter, which touches on subjects including bitcoin, nuclear power, and artificial intelligence, can be seen here. (More Larry Fink stories.)