Mark Cuban Warns Trump Plans to Put US Companies ‘Underneath a Hammer’

SharkTank investor and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is warning voters of what could happen to U.S. companies if Donald Trump gains a second term. Newsweek spoke to experts to discuss the matter.
During an appearance on CNBC, Cuban called out Trump’s proposal to enact tariffs on U.S. companies that move abroad.
“Donald Trump is trying to come in with the hammer and say, ‘I’m gonna hit you with a 200 percent tariff, John Deere.’ Kamala Harris is saying, ‘I’m going to give you incentives to manufacture more.’ Which do you think is gonna work better with companies?” Cuban said.
“Do you want to be underneath a hammer? Because when you put a 200 percent tariff on John Deere and only 20 percent on their Chinese competitors, their Chinese competitors are now less expensive than John Deere.”
Cuban also criticized Trump’s manner of responding to policy questions compared to Harris.
“Here’s another difference between Kamala and Donald,” Cuban said. “Donald says something and everybody tries to explain what he really meant… listen to what Kamala Harris says. What she says is what she’s going to do…Donald Trump takes credit for things that didn’t even happen.”
Trump has built his platform on promises that Americans would benefit economically, but not everyone is convinced that Trump’s proposed policies would be a boom for everyday citizens or even businesses inside the United States.
“Under my plan, incomes will skyrocket, inflation will vanish completely, jobs will come roaring back, and the middle class will prosper like never, ever before,” Trump said at the Republican National Convention in July.
A new report from the Peterson Institute for International Economics found Trump’s immigration policies, proposed tariffs and implications for the Federal Reserve would lead to a lower national income, lower employment levels and overall higher inflation.
Trump’s specific tariff policy, besides his recent 200 percent tariff comments, includes a proposal to increase tariffs on U.S. imports by 10 percentage points and also raise tariffs on U.S. imports from China by 60 percentage points.
Other countries are likely to raise their own tariffs in response, and this could lead to a GDP that is 0.9 percent lower by 2026. Inflation in America would also likely grow 1.3 percent in 2025, according to the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
Cuban previously called Trump’s threat to enact a 200 percent tariff on businesses that move to Mexico “insane.”
“This Lack of Understanding of Business is insane,” the SharkTank investor said earlier this month at Trump’s comments specifically directed at the John Deere company.
John Deere has laid off hundreds of employees in the United States this year and has also announced it would be moving its cab manufacturing facility to Mexico.
“Deere is constantly reviewing production efficiencies and product/component moves to optimize manufacturing floor space in the U.S. and to leverage the highly skilled production workforce in the U.S. to build our most innovative new machines like the 9RX,” a spokesperson for John Deere previously told Newsweek.
Newsweek reached out to Trump’s campaign for comment.
“President Trump successfully imposed tariffs and negotiated new trade deals that leveled the playing field for American agriculture and manufacturing, allowing U.S. industries to send more made-in-America goods across the world,” RNC spokesperson Anna Kelly previously told Newsweek.
“Kamala Harris opposed the USMCA and failed to open foreign markets for our farmers, ranchers, and manufacturers, allowing the trade deficit in goods to reach over $1 trillion a year. Under dealmaker President Trump, American farmers, manufacturers, and auto workers got the best trade deals in history, and he will once again put America First when we send him back to the White House.”
However, Kevin Thompson, a finance expert and the founder and CEO of 9i Capital Group, said Cuban’s comments are rooted in “basic economics” and Trump’s approach could come back onto American consumers.
“Tariffs increase costs, and those costs often get passed on to consumers,” Thompson told Newsweek. “Trump’s approach to using tariffs as leverage, threatening companies that move operations outside the U.S. with higher costs, aims to encourage domestic investment. However, this tactic may backfire.”
While companies might elect to stay in the U.S., they also might cut jobs in the process to protect their profit margins or move operations abroad while also laying off workers in the process, experts say.
“Cuban has a great point,” Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor for the University of Tennessee at Martin, told Newsweek.
“No one wants to see jobs of any kind leave the United States, but there are more effective ways of attempting to retain them than putting a tariff on their products. Not only could, as Cuban mentions, this unintentionally aid equipment manufacturers that unlike John Deere aren’t American companies, but in many situations, tariffs of any kind are at least partially passed on to the consumer. ”
Michael Ryan, a finance expert and the founder of michaelryanmoney.com, agreed that Cuban’s comments “hit the nail on the head.”
“Slapping hefty tariffs on imports doesn’t just hurt foreign companies – it hits Americans in their wallets. Remember when washing machine prices jumped after tariffs were imposed a few years ago? That’s just the tip of the iceberg,” Ryan told Newsweek.
“As Cuban points out, these policies could actually make it easier for Chinese firms to outcompete American stalwarts like John Deere. It’s like tying our own hands behind our backs in a boxing match.”
Harris’s policies, meanwhile, have targeted the middle class and unions to boost the economy and have proposed corporate taxes to fund social programs, likely aiming for long-term workforce productivity gains, Ryan said.
“Harris’s policies, while not perfect, at least show an understanding of economic cause and effect,” Ryan said.
Still, for both of the competing presidential candidates, economists question where the money is coming from to fund many of their ideas.
“Kamala Harris, on the other hand, is advocating for incentives to encourage domestic manufacturing,” Thompson said. “While her approach is different, the key question remains: where will the funding for these incentives come from?”