President Donald Trump’s economic policies are so bad, so baffling, and so poorly communicated that CNBC host Jim Cramer wonders if he’s deliberately trying to cause a recession.
In a conversation with “Squawk on the Street”co-host Carl Quintanilla Tuesday, the veteran trader was beside himself as he observed there’s no basis for the economy to tip into a recession right now, unless Trump creates one.
“I don’t think we’ll have a recession ― like I said, it’s manufactured. It’s manufactured,” he told Quintanilla. “‘Manufactured’ could easily cause recession. Absolutely.”
“I’m saying manufacturing is that you can make it happen,” he continued. “And when you get angry, and when you you kind of lose your temper, and you get mad … it gets people nervous and upset.”
Cramer begged the White House to change its disposition and strike a kinder tone with America’s allies, noting it’s possible to be both “tough as nails” and happy at the same time.
Global markets have significantly outperformed U.S. stocks since Trump’s inauguration.
Pulling from the history books, Cramer noted that tariffs, enacted via the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, significantly contributed to the Great Depression ― or arguably caused it outright.
“So … is [Trump] playing with fire?” Quintanilla asked.
“Absolutely,” Cramer shot back. “But is it arson?”
Quintanilla gave him an opening to temper the charge: “Meaning that you can contain the blaze, is that what you’re saying?”
Go Ad-Free — And Protect The Free Press
Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages.
“No,” said Cramer. “Maybe it’s deliberate!”
“And it doesn’t make any sense,” Cramer continued. “People are scared, Carl. You don’t scare people. You don’t scare … It’s just. It’s a wrong call. It’s all message. People are scared!”
The back-and-forth was one of two notable moments on CNBC Tuesday. Earlier in the day, CNBC senior economics reporter Steve Liesman told viewers that, “at risk of my job … what President Trump is doing is insane. It is absolutely insane.”