BlackRock's Fink says Trump deportations will have severe impact on agriculture, construction

HOUSTON — BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said Monday that President Donald Trump's deportation policy will have a severe impact on the agriculture and construction sectors, which could lead to elevated inflation in the near term.

"I think that over the next six to nine months, we're going to see a little more elevated inflation," Fink said the CERAWeek by S&P Global energy conference. "I do believe deportations and the speed at which it is happening is going to have severe impacts on the agricultural sector and the construction sector."

Fink said CEOs in the agriculture sector have told him that about 70% of the men and women who work in the industry were not born

in the U.S. This raises the question of whether the U.S. will have enough labor to harvest the crops when spring arrives, Fink said.

"With the whole idea that we're going to have to use private capital to build out this economy -- are we going to have enough workers," Fink asked. "I've even told members of the Trump team that we're going to run out of electricians as we build out AI data centers — we just don't have enough," the CEO said.

This potential labor shortage will contribute to inflation, Fink said. Over the longer term, however, the U.S. could see "big deflation because of the advancement of AI and robots and how that's going to reshape the economy," the CEO said.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.