Oilfield services provider Liberty Energy, which was founded by energy secretary Chris Wright, slammed president Donald Trump's "punitive" tariff policy as a "path to mediocrity."
The US may be a leader in energy production, but tariffs on steel and aluminum products are driving up costs at the potential loss of market share, chief executive officer Ron Gusek said Friday.
"They raise prices, cut profits, increase unemployment, diminish productivity and slow economic growth," he said of tariffs in general. "They are a path to mediocrity, not excellence."
They also put the administration's goal of winning the race for Artificial Intelligence in jeopardy.
"Winning this race requires access to massive amounts of new power generation capacity and associated hardware, along with many other sophisticated components," Gusek added. "Much of this is currently made overseas and much of it is now subject to tariffs."
He urged the administration to change course in order to put the US firmly on the road to energy and AI dominance.
Gusek took over as chief executive of Liberty in February after Wright was confirmed as energy secretary. Wright had served as chairman and chief executive since the company was started in 2011.
