Stock Market Chaos Echoes 1987 Crash—Was Jim Cramer Right All Along?

• Market analyst Jim Cramer, who rightly predicted that there could be a “black Monday”, has called on President Donald Trump to mitigate the impact to avoid further damage to the stock market.
• However, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has indicated that the tariffs could be in place for the long term. 

In a recent update, we discussed the significant fall of the US stock market, losing $1.3 trillion in just 24 hours after US President Donald Trump announced reciprocal tariffs on multiple countries. According to data, the market went ahead to lose $6 trillion in the subsequent days. Meanwhile, the meltdown is expected to continue as the Whitehouse remains defiant of the high tariff rates.

Amidst the backdrop of this, industry stakeholders have referred to an earlier prediction made by the Mad Money host Jim Cramer about a possible “Black Monday.” In his submission, Cramer highlighted that the market crash could be likened to the 1987 meltdown that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average declining by a whopping 22% in a single day.

Speaking on his Saturday show, Cramer suggested that Trump should reach out to the countries that “play by the rules” and curtail the tariff plan or risk a brutal meltdown for two days straight.

If the president doesn’t try to reach out and reward these countries and companies that play by the rules, then the 1987 scenario… the one where we went down three days and then down 22% on Monday, has the most cogency…We will not have to wait too long to know. We will know it by Monday.

How it Started, US Stock Market Reaction, and How the Global Economies Could be Affected

As discussed earlier, Trump imposed a 10% blanket tariff on all imports to the US. Meanwhile, higher levies against China, the European Union, Japan and Vietnam are expected to take effect on April 9. As a result of this, China has also imposed a retaliatory tariff on the US.

With this happening, Dow Jones took a severe hit, falling by 3,910 points on Thursday and Friday, while the S&P 500 fell by 5.97%, as reviewed in our recent publication.

The 1987 sell-off was one of the biggest in history. According to Cramer, the 2025 meltdown could be close or even worse if the president does nothing to “ameliorate the damage.” Meanwhile, Cramer was one of the supporters of Trump’s reciprocal tariffs.

I am pro-tariff, absolutely. I hate free trade. I think it’s been an embarrassment for our country. It’s cost us fortunes. Everybody picks on us. There’s just no end to it.

However, he believes that retaliatory tariffs, which could also be expected from European countries against its tech companies, would be devastating.

Earlier, Apollo chief economist Torsten Slok pointed out that a decision by the government to enforce these levies for several months could cause a recession in the US and other parts of the world if other countries retaliate. However, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has assured that the government would not change its position.

There doesn’t have to be a recession. Who knows how the market is going to react in a day, in a week. We’re building the long term.