BlackRock CEO Fink says nationalistic US policies to stoke inflation

By David French and Marianna Parraga

HOUSTON (Reuters) -BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said on Monday that inflation in the United States will be elevated by nationalistic policies, including the deportation of workers.

The head of the U.S. investment management company, speaking at the CERAWeek conference in Houston, added that markets are discounting inflation and there will be further cost increases over the next six to nine months.

"I think if we all are becoming a little more nationalistic - and I'm not saying that's a bad thing, you know, it does resonate with me - that it's going to have elevated inflation," he said.

Fink said he believed, for example, that mass deportations could lead to problems in the agriculture sector.

"Are we going to have enough workers to harvest this now?" he said. "I've even told members of the Trump team that we're going to run out of electricians that we need to build out AI data centers. We just don't have enough."

The Trump administration has also been threatening hefty tariffs on trade partners, which industry groups warn could sharply raise import costs.

"When I go to Washington, when they talk about these policies, at what cost are you willing to tolerate that?" Fink said.

PANAMA DEAL

Fink said that a deal recently announced by a BlackRock-backed consortium to buy CK Hutchison's 90% stake in a company operating two key ports near the Panama Canal represents 4% of the aggregated value of the whole transaction between the parties, which gave BlackRock access to 43 ports in more than 20 countries.

"Through this acquisition, we are going to have 100 ports in our portfolio, and we look at the real milestone and real opportunity," he said.

"This is something we had been working with the seller, CK Hutchison, for some time," Fink said, adding that the transaction also includes six ports near the Suez Canal.

The Panama portion of the deal is expected to be signed by early April, the companies said. An audit ordered by Panama's government on the 25-year port concession to CK Hutchison is also pending.

(Reporting by David French and Marianna Parraga in Houston; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Jacqueline Wong)

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