CNBC’s Steve Liesman Says Trump Is ‘Steering the Titanic Towards the Iceberg’

CNBC’s Steve Liesman said President Donald Trump’s tariffs are a self-inflicted catastrophe.

On Wednesday, Trump rolled out tariffs on virtually all imports, with a baseline level of 10%. He hit dozens of countries with markedly higher tariffs while also slapping a 25% tariff on all automobile imports. Predictably, markets have nose-dived over the past two trading sessions. The Dow shed nearly 4,000 points on Thursday and Friday as investors worry about the possibility of a tariff-induced recession, the odds of which JPMorgan has put at 60%. Moreover, the numbers Trump has used to justify tariffs rely on bogus numbers.

Liesman, who has made his views on Trump’s trade policies clear, appeared on MSNBC’s All In on Friday night.

“What’s your takeaway from these last few days?” Chris Hayes asked.

“[I]f you take a step back, what’s really happening here, Chris, is the market is pricing in the high probability of a recession,” Liesman answered. “That’s really what this is all about right now. How much? How little? We don’t know. I will say that if there is going to be a recession, there could be further for stocks to fall here.”

He noted that stocks have shed between $7 trillion and $10 trillion in value since Trump took office in January.

“And I guess another way to think about it is this,” Liesman continued. “You know, the Titanic hit an iceberg by accident. This is the equivalent of steering the Titanic towards the iceberg. What’s not happening here is the market is not pricing in some form of ‘golden age’ where manufacturing comes back to America and this country prospers as a result of that. The market prices in future values and that’s not happening.”

Liesman added that prominent investors he spoke with believed that Trump’s aides would rein in the president’s worst impulses.

“Well, that’s gone,” he added. “The adults have left the room is maybe one way to put it.”

Watch above via MSNBC.