Jim Cramer Gives His Verdict on Trump’s Tariffs – See What He Told CNN’s Erin Burnett
CNBC’s Jim Cramer appeared on Thursday’s (April 3) OutFront on CNN, where he told host Erin Burnett he “feels like a sucker” for believing the Trump administration would do right when it came to international trade.
“Well, I’m let down,” Cramer said in response to President Donald Trump‘s new widespread trade tariffs, which will see around 60 countries faced with steep tariffs if they want to export goods to the US. Trump announced a baseline of 10% on all foreign goods but noted some countries will face even higher tariffs.
“I’m not a free trader… I’m a fair trader,” Cramer told Burnett. “I always have been from the days when you worked with me at CNBC. And what I was hoping was that a coordinated thing where if you are charging us 20%, we charge you 20%. Instead of a car where we’re only making you pay two and a half and you’re not letting us in, we try to get things better.”
Cramer went on to note how Trump’s numbers “don’t make any sense” and “are just wrong” before expressing his disappointment in believing the President would make a logical decision.
“What bothered me, Erin, was that they really did, over and over again, the President said, ‘Listen, it’s going to be reciprocal. So, you do it, we do it.’ And that was gonna be so good. And I really believed in it,” the Mad Money host stated. “And I feel like a sucker tonight because I am not a free trader and I do not believe in free trade. And I was just as tough, if not tougher, than his people.”
Cramer added that “They screwed up… they did it a totally ill-advised way. And I was very let down as someone who really, truly believes that free trade is awful for the American working person. This is what they came up with? Jeez, come on! Have some gumption. Have some math.”
A former hedge fund manager, Cramer has been appearing on CNBC since the late 1990s and has hosted the finance television program Mad Money since 2005. He also anchors the CNBC business show Squawk on the Street, which follows the first 90 minutes of trading on Wall Street.
Erin Burnett OutFront, Weekdays, 7/6 c, CNN
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