We recently published a list of Jim Cramer’s Thoughts on Liberation Day, Tariffs, and 17 Stocks to Watch Right Now. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Rio Tinto Group (NYSE:RIO) stands against other stocks that Jim Cramer discusses.

On Tuesday, April 1^st, the host of Mad Money opened the show by focusing on President Trump’s tariffs and the economic risks ahead of ‘Liberation Day’. While Cramer expressed sympathy for the President’s goals, he warned viewers that the consequences could be severe for both consumers and the broader economy:

“Now as someone who’s been a huge critic of unrestrained free trade, I am very sympathetic to what President Trump is trying to accomplish with these tariffs. Every other country on earth tries to protect its own domestic industries except America which has spent decades letting foreign competitors steamroll our guys in exchange for cheaper stuff. President Trump is justifiably furious about this he wants to do something about it but solving the problem is going to hurt. We don’t know how much our prices will go up for just about everything, but we do know those tariffs will be used as an excuse to raise prices across the board. It’s been very hard to get a sense of the overall damage.”

But despite understanding the motivation behind the policy, Cramer was blunt about the scale of economic disruption that a proposed 20% tariff on all imports would cause:

“Speaking as someone who’s not a fan of free trade I have to be honest here, a 20% across the board tariff on almost all imports that would be horrendous for the economy. That’s a 20% increase on everything we buy from overseas and we import a huge amount of foreign goods in America, and those goods are cheap because that’s the deal. There’s plenty of competition from these companies but with the exception of the auto industry and those that contribute to it -mainly steel – it doesn’t matter anymore. The truth is the jobs that are meant to be protected by tariffs were automated out of existence a long time ago.”

Cramer mentioned that even the industries that stand to benefit in theory, like autos and steel, aren’t necessarily helping the average American:

“The tariffs aren’t protecting us from anything because we barely make anything anymore. The horses left the barn ages ago. Ford and GM will be able to make more money by raising prices but who does that help besides their shareholders and union members? What’s good for General Motors is not necessarily good for America anymore. All people know is that cars will be more expensive; they don’t care about who makes them.”

He also criticized the administration’s execution, calling out the lack of clarity and coordination behind the policy rollout and questioning whether any American companies will actually be spared from the impact:

“I wish the White House were more serious about making the tariffs work. Our country’s been crushed by foreign imports that are typically made by cheap labor and often subsidized so they destroy our jobs. But the jobs are gone. We had almost a million seamstresses in this country four decades ago now we have almost none; they aren’t bringing back those jobs. Sure, some companies thought they’d be buying immunity by building new factories here, but there’s nothing on paper that suggests that the president will spare them. Is there really no sanctuary?”

Wrapping up the opening segment, Cramer reminded viewers that while many Americans may support a “tough-on-trade” agenda, their real fear is inflation; and it’s inflation that the tariffs will likely exacerbate:

“Finally, most Americans are worried about inflation; not tariffs. That’s what got Trump elected for heaven’s sake. As much as I rail against the devil’s bargain that gave our country the cheap stuff at the cost of domestic jobs, cheap stuff is what America wanted. […] Here’s the bottom line when the book is written on this moment I think we’ll question what we were liberated from on Liberation Day and again I think Trump is totally justified in cracking down on our trading partners but that doesn’t mean it will be good for the economy.”

Our Methodology

For this article, we compiled a list of 17 stocks that were discussed by Jim Cramer during the episode of Mad Money aired on April 1. We listed the stocks in the order that Cramer mentioned them. We also provided hedge fund sentiment for each stock as of the fourth quarter of 2024, which was taken from Insider Monkey’s database of over 1,000 hedge funds.

Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).

Rio Tinto Group (NYSE:RIO)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 39

A caller pitched Rio Tinto Group (NYSE:RIO) as a play on global electrification, and Cramer, clearly entertained and impressed by the analysis, gave his support:

“RTZ! That’s what they call the people included in it. Called RTZ, because we are so much cooler than everybody else. I like your call!”

Rio Tinto Group (NYSE:RIO) is a global mining powerhouse with a diversified portfolio spanning iron ore, aluminum, copper, and increasingly, lithium. The company recently completed its acquisition of Arcadium Lithium, in order to expand its operations in the battery materials market. In parallel, Rio Tinto announced a $1.8 billion investment to expand its Brockman iron ore operations in Western Australia’s Pilbara region, underlining its long-term confidence in iron ore demand. The company has also resumed shipments from its East Intercourse Island facility at Dampier Port, boosting its logistics capacity after earlier disruptions. In a meaningful push toward sustainability, Rio Tinto (NYSE:RIO) signed a landmark solar and battery energy agreement with Edify Energy for its Gladstone operations. With $8.4 billion in taxes and royalties paid in 2024, the company not only remains a vital economic contributor in its operating regions but also demonstrates transparency and a forward-looking growth strategy that blends traditional mining strength with green energy initiatives.

Overall, RIO ranks 4th on our list of stocks that Jim Cramer discusses. While we acknowledge the potential of RIO as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than RIO but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.