At the “risk” of his job, a veteran CNBC journalist has blasted President Donald Trump’s tariff threats as “absolutely insane” — and popular financial news host Jim Cramer wondered if Trump is deliberately “manufacturing” a recession.
“I’m going to say this at the risk of my job,” senior economics reporter Steve Liesman told business network anchor Kelly Evans regarding Trump’s volatile on-again-off-again tariffs and tariff threats. “What President Trump is doing is insane. It is absolutely insane.”
Liesman was particularly incensed by Trump’s threat Tuesday to impose 50 percent tariffs on Canada unless it agreed to become the 51st state of America.
“That is insane. There is just no other way of describing it,” Liesman emphasized. “The trouble is that it shows there are no bounds around President Trump.”
He also warned: “We need massive amounts of capital if we want to fund our deficits, pay for the things we want to pay for, sell our bonds and have high stock prices, and it seems as if this administration is doing everything it can to chase the foreign capital away.”
Trump cranked back his 50 percent tariff threat and instead imposed 25 percent tariffs on all aluminum and steel imports, which hits Canada — the biggest foreign supplier — the hardest. Canada and Europe instantly retaliated with tariffs on imported American goods.
Popular CNBC Squawk on the Street co-host and veteran trader Cramer also slammed Trump’s baffling behavior over tariffs, as well as the president’s frightening indication that a recession could be looming . The president’s hint alone could be enough to help trigger a recession-fueling panic, Cramer warned.
Trump’s behavior “doesn’t make any sense,” Cramer underscored. “People are scared. You don’t scare people ... It’s a wrong call.”
Cramer said the president is “absolutely” playing with fire. He speculated that Trump’s rattling of the market may be “deliberate,” though he didn’t specify any possible motive.
Cramer said he hadn’t imagined “we’ll have a recession ― like I said, it’s manufactured. It’s manufactured,” he told co-host Carl Quintanilla. “‘Manufactured’ could easily cause recession.”
He warned: “I’m saying manufacturing is that you can make it happen. And when you get angry, and when you kind of lose your temper, and you get mad ... it gets people nervous and upset,” he added, referring to Trump.
Cramer pleaded with White House to strike a kinder tone with America’s allies for the sake of economic stability.
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