As President Donald Trump announced wide-ranging “reciprocal tariffs” on more than 180 countries and territories, CNBC’s Jim Cramer said on Wednesday that the president cares more about punishing America’s trading partners than appeasing investors.
By including U.S. allies in the tariff hit, Trump shows 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 wrong,” Cramer said. “This president turns out to be an equal-opportunity hater. He doesn’t care what these countries do. Ultimately, he thinks they can’t really hurt us. Why? Because they don’t buy much of our stuff anyway.”
Cramer acknowledged that like everyone else, he wants clarity on how the Trump tariffs will eventually end. For now, investors have to accept that prices will rise and companies’ bottom lines will get hurt, he said.
Cramer added that the tariffs announced 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 days. He advised investors to look toward companies that serve small and medium-size businesses and are relatively immune to tariffs.
Trump doesn’t care about establishing certainty for investors, Cramer said. Despite widespread concerns that tariffs will slow down business, increase inflation and isolate the U.S., Cramer argued, people need to understand Trump’s priorities and allocate some money 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 bend to his will, and if it causes inflation, then it causes inflation.”
