CNBC's Rick Santelli: The international economic system Trump is blowing up “has outlived its usefulness”
Santelli: “Maybe what he's doing is lighting the firecracker that will finally end it with a big pop”
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From the April 3, 2025, edition of CNBC's Squawk Box
RICK SANTELLI (CNBC ON-AIR EDITOR): They don't have an allegiance to the U.S. That's the heart of the problem in Trump's mind, is the elite, multinational corporations know no borders, the money goes everywhere. And the free trade globalism has been in reverse really, since COVID.
The problem is, is that the direction of that reversal was wrong. And maybe if Trump had a second term instead of Biden, instead of Vietnam, and some of the alternate places that were extracted from China during COVID, maybe it would have come to the U.S., maybe that would have helped Andrew's question of how long it's going to take for onshoring to occur.
I'll tell you what, the structural issues of rejiggering trade are not going to be easy. But in the end, once again, it comes to — you know, I was doing Santelli Exchanges on the end of globalism 10 years ago. The handwriting has been on the wall. Ultimately, if you live in the U.S. or you live in Europe, or you live in China, ultimately what goes on at home is very important. And after World War II, when the United States was way up here economically and everybody else was in melting ruins, we created this structure. And the structure has outlived its usefulness in many ways.
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AARON ROSS SORKIN (CO-HOST): Rick, if you don't have the — but if you don't have the trade deficit, then you won't — and everything gets manufactured here, you're not going to collect the revenue that you want, I think, from those tariffs.
SANTELLI: I think Trump would be happy with that.
STEVE LIESMAN (CNBC SENIOR ECONOMICS REPORTER): I think the people who used to talk about economic freedom are suddenly talking about something a little different, that, that there was a time when maybe people were like —
SANTELLI: I've never talked about economic freedom. I talked about I've never been a fan of globalism. Never. Never been a fan of globalism.
LIESMAN: But you're a fan of the government telling us where and how we can buy and how much we ought to pay for it, and what kind of industries businesses ought to do, and where Apple ought to source it. That's what you're in favor of, Rick.
SANTELLI: No I'm not. No I'm not. But that bus pulled out of the station during FDR, pal.
LIESMAN: What was that? What, you're going back to. the '30s?
SANTELLI: You know what? All of the highfalutin government telling us what to do, that's been around a lot longer than Trump's been in politics.
LIESMAN: So, Trump is just continuing and making it worse, Rick, is that what you're saying?
SANTELLI: No. Maybe what he's doing is lighting the firecracker that will finally end it with a big pop.
LIESMAN: But with more government intrusion into the decision making of both consumers and businesses.
SANTELLI: You know what? Let people buy things made in America, period.