CNBC’s Jim Cramer Rips Trump Trade Moves As Stocks Plummet — Makes China ‘Very Big Winner’
CNBC’s Jim Cramer told co-anchors Carl Quintanilla and David Faber he thinks President Donald Trump’s tariffs have made China a “very big winner” and Mexico the “very big loser” — and said he wants more “respect” shown to Mexico.
Over the weekend, Trump announced stiff 25 percent tariffs against close U.S. trading partners Canada and Mexico and 10 percent on goods from China, which are set to take effect Monday. The move has sparked widespread criticism and an admission from Trump that at least short-term “pain” for consumers could result from the policy.
On Monday morning’s edition of CNBC’s Squawk on the Street, the opening bell saw the Dow Jones plummet over 500 points within seconds, while Cramer and his co-hosts calmly discussed the movement.
Cramer called it “not a great time” but all three preached calm and hope for a rally. Cramer and Faber also said that Trump’s attack on Mexico has benefited China:
CARL QUINTANILLA: Nasdaq restaurant company Twin Hospitality is celebrating its spin off, Jim, as we might have expected breadth like this at the open.
JIM CRAMER: Sure. Look, this is not a great time. We are only down one and a half from the high. And I think that this time what Trump– I don’t like the name 2.2.0. It’s kind of trivializes I think that the president gave us last time some tax cuts ahead. So you kind of felt that there were some good things happening.
Here. He comes up with this first, which makes it feel like that you justify what he said on Friday when he said he didn’t care about the markets.
Ultimately, David, he does care about the markets. And I don’t think he wants them down badly.
I think he could give us some good news. And one of the reasons why I worry about the term precarious again is that–.
Like, why don’t people own Apple here? Well, they’ve been they’ve been told so many times that times are precarious that they’ve sold it. They’ve sold Amazon because it’s precarious. They’ve sold Microsoft.
And I’m saying that in 2007, it was precarious. Other times we worked it through. That’s what I’m saying.
DAVID FABER: Has the price of an iPhone now gone up by 10%.
JIM CRAMER: I don’t know. I buy mine through Verizon. I have no idea how much it costs because Verizon subsidizes it next time. I’m buying it from T-Mobile because Mike Seivers here, I don’t know how much it costs. I know it’s in my bill and it doesn’t cost the listed price. You can buy used one right now–.
CROSSTALK
DAVID FABER: They do tell you what what you’re paying.
JIM CRAMER: Yeah. So it’s a giveaway. I mean I don’t think of that–.
CROSSTALK
DAVID FABER: My question remains, and I don’t know because they have been exempted previously, will they be this time?
I think that that’s important. I think that we could find out that further on down the road that some are exempted. I think that the president has giving you ample room to be able to say, okay, look, we’ve made this. Now I’m getting some ball being played by Claudia Sheinbaum, whom I think, by the way, is doing a great job. And I felt badly that Claudia Sheinbaum call was not in on the (inaudible) that’s because she’s got to if it’s about the border you have to sit down and talk to her.
I think that I’d like to see a little more respect for Mexico because they’re a huge trading partner and a lot of companies moved from China to Mexico. And they that doesn’t that was–.
CARL QUINTANILLA: You’re raising the other line of thinking over the weekend, certainly. And that is that this whole operation, this whole mindset opens up a lot of lanes for China, especially in Latin America.
JIM CRAMER: Yes, it does! I think China is a winner today, a very big winner! I think Mexico’s a very big loser because so many– BMW moved down there and got huge plant for VW.
The Dow recovered dramatically in the minutes following an announcement that the tariffs will be paused for one month.
Watch the video above via CNBC’s Squawk on the Street.
