Cramer's Morning Take: Auto Tariffs & Inflation 3/28/25

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Jim Cramer (1:04)

I'm Jim Cramer and you're about to hear a sample taken directly from today's CNBC Investing Club morning meeting. One of the things that I know in the first minute is we are really struggling here. We're struggling because President Trump has made it so that there's just, we have to almost wait to this day to find out what happens with the tariffs. There's just too much unknown.

SPEAKER_4 (1:27)

Yeah, April 2nd, Liberation Day, when the reciprocal tariffs are expected to come on. Yeah, I mean, look, we started this week with some optimism that maybe tariffs will be targeted, not as broad, things really turned around in the middle of the week after the president announced these auto tariffs, which is really, you know, is causing some pain here in the market. He's, according to the journal, he's telling the automakers, do not raise prices, do not pass through these higher costs.

Jim Cramer (1:57)

There's no way to do that unless there's a presidential order. We've done that against the law firms.

SPEAKER_4 (2:02)

That's true.

Jim Cramer (2:03)

But we were, that's like issuing a law which says that the Dow Jones can't go below 500 I mean, I think that what will happen is just that the disparity between what the Germans have to pay and what we have to pay is so great that the Germans will be cut out of this market, just be cut out.

SPEAKER_4 (2:19)

Yeah, just a lot of uncertainty. I don't think the PCE numbers helped the case. You did have inflation. It was about in line, maybe slightly higher. The 10 years actually falling, probably concerns about the economy.

Jim Cramer (2:31)

It's Friday, crazy things happen on the weekend now. It's not a good bet to necessarily say that, look, that I'm going to go by the Nasdaq down 1.5, but if Quart Weave opens and it's at all strong, it could trigger a rally.

SPEAKER_4 (2:45)

Yeah, it's certainly going to be a big test not only for demand for AI stocks, but also just the IPO market at large. It's crucial for Goldman Sachs there. We know IB activity has been pretty slow in Q1, though trading, strong trading volumes could offset that. But as we look out through later in the year, definitely want to see the IPOs pick up. But again, I think it all kind of goes back to, well, there should be more clarity after April 2nd, right? It's unlikely that Trump is going to walk back tariffs before that. He's been hyping up this day. So we just got to get through it till now and then just protect some cash.

Jim Cramer (3:24)

Right. I would tell you that where I was looking, the greatest fear is retail.

SPEAKER_4 (3:30)

Sure.

Jim Cramer (3:30)

That's why I felt that I was so glad we got out of Best Buy so high. That was terrific. I had been tempted to buy Target when it had a 4% yield. That would have been a big mistake. Retailers themselves are, with the exception of Walmart, and by the way, Costco is a buy. You don't want to touch these things.

SPEAKER_4 (3:46)

Yeah.

Jim Cramer (3:46)

You just can. Start your day with my outlook on the daily market every morning at 10:20 a.m. Visit cnbc.com/morningtake to access all the benefits of being a CNBC Investing Club member.

SPEAKER_5 (4:04)

All opinions expressed by Jim Cramer on this podcast and in connection with the CNBC Investing Club are solely Cramer's opinions and do not reflect the opinions of CNBC, NBC Universal or their parent company or affiliates and may have been previously disseminated by Cramer on television, radio, internet or another medium. No specific outcome or profit is guaranteed in connection with your reliance upon or other use of the content from Cramer. The opinions offered in connection with this podcast and the CNBC Investing Club are not an attempt to induce any particular trading behavior, investment or strategy. You should be aware of the risk of loss and following any strategy or investment discussed in the content from Cramer. To view the full CNBC Investing Club disclaimer, please visit cnbc.com/investingclubdisclaimer.