MrBeast, Adin Ross, and Dave Portnoy React to Trump's Tariffs (UPDATE)

UPDATED 4/9/25, 4:31 p.m. ET: Dave Portnoy’s financial luck has turned around in his favor.

“I'm up 8.2 million today,” said Portnoy on Wednesday in a new video while doing a celebratory dance in his office chair. “And I bought at the low, I'm getting some stats—I'm stuck.”

“And by the way, [Donald] Trump's not a fucking crazy person,” he said further into the clip. “He knows it matters. He's negotiating, but he gets it. The stock market is tied in with Main Street, Wall Street. Let it eat, let me eat. And they let me eat, and I'm putting pizza burgers.”

​​Portnoy’s financial bounce back comes shortly after President Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause on tariff hikes on Wednesday for most countries, while China will still face a sharp increase to 125% due to its retaliatory tariffs, as explained by NPR. 

The decision, which was announced during trading hours, caused stock prices to surge.

“Well, I thought that people were jumping a little bit out of line, they were getting yippy, you know, they're getting a little bit … afraid,” Trump told reporters at an unrelated event at the White House.

See original story below.

President Donald Trump announced sweeping new tariffs which target nearly all U.S. trading partners last Wednesday (April 2), which he proclaimed as “Liberation Day.” 

According to the Associated Press, the tariffs include a 34% tax on Chinese imports and a 20% tax on goods from the European Union, along with a baseline 10% tariff on all imports. 

Trump cited an “economic emergency” and invoked the 1977 International Emergency Powers Act to bypass Congress, while claiming that the measures would bring in hundreds of billions of dollars, revive U.S. manufacturing, and correct long-standing trade imbalances.

However, Trump’s announcement sounded off alarms on Wall Street. Following “Liberation Day,” the S&P 500 dropped 4.8%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1,679 points (4%), and the Nasdaq tumbled 6%—marking the worst day for U.S. markets since the 2020 pandemic crash and stoking fears for more inflation and another depression.

The fallout from President Trump’s tariff announcements is seemingly moving through the pop culture space and affecting some high-profile figures hard—such as MrBeast, Adin Ross, and Dave Portnoy of Barstool Sports. Here’s how each of them is reacting.

Adin Ross

The 24-year-old Kick streamer and fervent Trump supporter who brought him out for a livestream in support of his reelection campaign last year, shared his confusion about the state of his finances.  

“Guys, do you want me to be honest with you? I don't know how many guys are investing in crypto or stocks,” Ross said in a recent stream. 

“What the fuck is going on with our country? Guys, why am I poor? Like what is going on with the world right now? Why the fuck is this going on? Can somebody please explain what's going on? Why are we all losing? Why are we all negative right now? Like, does anybody know why?”

In a stream with DJ Akademiks, Ross shared his losses were upwards of “eight figures.”

“Damn, you're over here being, like, fucking—’Kamala come back to me.’ You're over here singing … that Kanye-Bianca song … It’ll get better though," Ak said.

“It’s bad though. It will get better,” Ross replied.

There’s at least one person who sees the silver lining with the tariffs, even if it’s in an ironic sense.

MrBeast

MrBeast revealed on Tuesday (April 8) that his Feastables brand of chocolate bars will be less expensive to produce outside of the United States due to the tariffs.

“Ironically because of all the new tariffs it is now way cheaper to make our chocolate bars we sell globally NOT in America because other countries don’t have a 20%+ tariff on our cogs 😅,” wrote the billionaire YouTuber on his X account.

He continued, “Btw we pay our farmers a living income, use fair trade certified beans, etc. so I was already spending a lot on cocoa. A random price hike was pretty brutal ngl. We’ll figure it out. I feel for small businesses though. Could really be a nail in the coffin for them.”

MrBeast did not share details of any financial losses he may have personally incurred as a result of the tariff announcements.

Dave Portnoy

The 48-year-old Barstool Sports founder went viral for claiming he lost seven million dollars worth of assets.

“I'm down seven million bucks in stocks and crypto. And it's tariff city. Trump has put his tariffs all over the place. I've been trying to understand him, I don't,” said the Barstool Sports founder in a video circulating online.

He added, “Like, it's more a trade deficit tariff to me. Like, ‘Hey, we get this much shit from you and you get this much from us. Let's even that up. Let's get some wacky formula and do tariffs.’ And everything's in the shitter because of it.”

However, Portnoy claimed that his losses only continued from there in a new video shared on Monday (April 7).

“I went super viral when I said I lost seven million dollars. I'd kill to be back to losing seven million dollars. I haven't even looked. If I had to get them down in these last three days, probably close to 20—I don't know, like, 10% of my net worth, poof.”

“But I'm still here, that's the game,” he added.” “Am I crying? Am I like, ‘Oh, woe is me. I wish I voted for Kamala [Harris].’ No. Do I wish this didn't go down like this? Yes. Am I in this to make money? Yes.”