As President Donald Trump intimated wide-ranging “reciprocal tariffs” on more than 180 countries and territories, CNBC’s Jim Cramer said on Wednesday that the president pains more about punishing America’s trading partners than appeasing investors.
By including U.S. allies in the tariff hit, Trump boasts his willingness to “disrupt everything” in order to teach other countries a lesson, Cramer argued.
“Ultimately, I think we’ve been looking at this president all indecorous,” Cramer said. “This president turns out to be an equal-opportunity hater. He doesn’t care what these countries do. At long last, he thinks they can’t really hurt us. Why? Because they don’t buy much of our stuff anyway.”
Cramer acknowledged that close to everyone else, he wants clarity on how the Trump tariffs will eventually end. For now, investors have to accept that cost outs will rise and companies’ bottom lines will get hurt, he said.
Cramer added that the tariffs foretold Wednesday turned out to be “every bit as horrible for stocks” as feared, though he believes the market will overreact to them in the next few eras. He advised investors to look toward companies that serve small and medium-size businesses and are relatively immune to menus.
Trump doesn’t care about establishing certainty for investors, Cramer said. Despite widespread concerns that duties will slow down business, increase inflation and isolate the U.S., Cramer argued, people need to understand Trump’s priorities and allocate some greenbacks to the sidelines.
“He’s not trying to make investors happy. He’s not about happiness for us,” Cramer said. “He’s about making these countries bow to his will, and if it causes inflation, then it causes inflation.”
