Jim Cramer’s Leading Stock Selections During the Trade War

2025-04-2856 Views

Summary:

⚈ Jim Cramer sees TJX Companies as the top retail winner of the trade war.
⚈ He believes U.S. retailers like Macy’s and Kohl’s could benefit from tariffs.
⚈ Skepticism remains due to Cramer’s history of controversial stock calls.

The former hedge fund manager and host of Mad Money, Jim Cramer, has been overwhelmingly bullish about the U.S. economy and equities in 2025, repeatedly voicing his confidence that America will win the escalating trade war with China.

The trend continued on Monday, April 28, after Chinese stores Shein and Temu both increased prices on their products in anticipation of tariff implementation. Shein, in particular, found its price tags in the headlines as it bumped the cost of some products by nearly 400%.

In response, Cramer posed the question of whether the sudden drop in Chinese competitiveness in the U.S. could help save firms such as Kohl’s (NYSE:KSS) and Macy’s (NYSE:M). Both retailers have been under severe pressure, and KSS stock is down 49.96% year-to-date (YTD) and 71.49% in the last 12 months.

M shares are likewise down 31.04% in 2025 and 38.47% in the last 12 months.

In the first hour of the April 28 session, Macy’s stock reacted positively to the news and soared 2.06%, while Kohl’s opened in the red. Within the same Xpost, Jim Cramer also revealed the American store he would bet on: TJX Companies (NYSE:TJX).

Temu joins Shein in the price increases from China. I know this will hurt the working person but it will bring needed relief to American retail. Could it save Kohl’s? Help Macy’s? Just go buy TJX as that’s the real winner— Jim Cramer (@jimcramer) April 28, 2025

TJX, which the former hedge fund manager called ‘the real winner,’ is also up 0.62% at the start of the Monday session. Furthermore, unlike both KSS and M, TJX shares are up 4.71% year-to-date and 33.86% in the one-year chart.

Jim Cramer’s latest stock pick came after the famed host also opined that China’s refusal to back down in the trade war is part of Beijing’s strategy of having American consumers turn against President Donald Trump.

In the former hedge fund manager’s opinion, things are not ‘going to play out the way the PRC wants it to.’

Still, it is worth pointing out that despite Cramer not being as frequently and catastrophically wrong as the popular joke would imply, the ‘inverse Jim Cramer’ meme and trading strategy are popular for a reason.

A good example of this came earlier in the trade war, when he opined that Beijing would not ban advanced Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) hardware due to environmental concerns and that, even if it did, it would have no replacement.

Yeah, and the Chinese have WHAT to replace Nvidia chips? And the new chips are the least hot. Makes me laugh how these stories come out. Sure the country that builds endless amounts of coal plants is going to cut its nose off to spite its face? Just plain dumb— Jim Cramer (@jimcramer) March 26, 2025

The statement, rooted in China’s reputation for pollution, shows a lack of awareness in the East Asian country’s heavy investments in a green transition and came mere weeks before Huawei revealed its competing highly advanced chip.