One contrarian investor is joining the chorus of other investors and corporate leaders in warning about the dangers of Donald Trump’s temporarily withholding of visas from citizens of seven Middle Eastern countries.
Marc Faber, the publisher of the Gloom, Boom & Doom report, told CNBC that the president’s travel ban will lead to significant losses in United States assets. As investors start to assess the psychological effects of such an immigration policy, says Faber, you will ultimately see more people reconsider the position that U.S. stocks are safe haven assets.
Ultimately, according to Faber, 2017 will be “the year of disappointments.”
“I think this travel ban, psychologically, will have a very negative impact in the long run on the U.S. dollar and U.S. assets,” he explained. “As we go into 2017, the consensus is that inflation will go up … And you want to be overweight U.S. stocks … but protectionism, I guarantee you, is not going to be good for the U.S.”
As part of Trump’s executive order, the U.S. government will temporarily withhold visas from citizens of seven Middle Eastern countries. Using previous laws and references, Iran, Sudan and Syria have been labeled as “state sponsors of terrorism” and Iraq, Libya, Somalia and Yemen have been named “countries of concern. This means they will be unable to partake in the Visa Waiver Program for 120 days, which was something that was signed into law by President Obama as part of the Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Improvement Act of 2015.
Where was the outrage then? Also, where was the outrage when Obama suspended the Iraq refugee program for six months in 2013 over fears of potential terrorism? What about 17 Muslim countries denying entry to Israeli Jews? The selective outrage is rather comical.
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