‘Really?!’ Jim Cramer Floors CNBC Colleague by Saluting Trump’s Pragmatism in China Trade Truce

Jim Cramer surprised his CNBC colleague David Faber by crediting President Donald Trump for being “less confrontational” amid the just-announced trade truce with China.

In the opening segment of CNBC’s Squawk on the Street Monday, Cramer argued that the agreement indicated that a kindler, gentler Trump is now calling the shots in the White House.

“This, to me, is a signal that there is maybe a different kind of President Trump happening,” Cramer said. He added, “President Trump seems to be looking for less confrontational style. And this may be the beginning of what I regard as being kind of a little more politics as usual — for Trump.”

Faber was floored by Cramer’s take.

“Really?!” Faber said.

“Yes, absolutely,” Cramer said — defending the commentary.

Faber argued the deal was a page out of Trump’s traditional “playbook,” and that it didn’t indicate anything different about the president’s approach.

“You go high with your ask, and then you come, and you negotiate — and the whole art of the deal,” Faber said. “Why is this different?”

“Yes, you’ve got art of the deal going,” Cramer replied. “But you also have this, wait a second, maybe we ought to be more part of the council of nations … Let’s pull back from the idea that Taiwan could be in play. Let’s pull back from the idea. that there’s a military solution to this … That was the huge bear case, David. That was a bear case on the world. Take that bear case off, and just make it so it’s a trade negotiation. Feels very different.”

“OK,” Faber shot back. “I think there would be many who would argue, well, if that really was the case, then you could conceivably have not gone after our allies in the same way that you did after our enemies. And that you could have built a coalition that conceivable would have effectively dealt with China in a different way.”

Watch above, via CNBC.