Yahoo Finance Mark Cuban explains how he would fight the trade war differently than Trump
In a new interview, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban sharply criticized the tariffs slapped on Chinese products by President Donald Trump, proposing instead that the U.S. stop allowing Chinese companies to go public or trade on U.S. stock exchanges.
“I'd shut down all Chinese IPOs—that's the first step,” says Cuban, a billionaire entrepreneur and host of the show “Shark Tank.” “Given [Trump’s] propensity for using Twitter and throwing warning shots, I would throw out there that we might put a halt on the trading of Chinese-listed stocks in the United States.”
“A trading halt would certainly create a lot of disruption for those Chinese companies,” adds Cuban, who’s considering an independent run for president in 2020.
As of February, 156 Chinese companies were listed on major U.S. stock exchanges with a total market capitalization of $1.2 trillion, according to the U.S.-China Economic Security and Review Commission, a group tasked by Congress to monitor the trade relationship between the two countries.
As of this month, 12 Asia-Pacific companies have listed on the Nasdaq so far this year, raising a total of $777 million at their initial offerings, CNBC reported. The Beijing-based coffee chain Luckin Coffee, seeking to overtake Starbucks, made its public initial offering on the Nasdaq last week. Douyu, a Chinese live-streaming platform, is expected to go public in the U.S. this year.
After trade negotiations between the two countries stalled earlier this month, Trump escalated the conflict, raising tariffs from 10% to 25% on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods. The Chinese government retaliated by increasing tariffs on $60 billion worth of American products.
Cuban made the remarks to Editor-in-Chief Andy Serwer in a conversation that airs on Yahoo Finance on Thursday at 5 p.m. EST in an episode of “Influencers with Andy Serwer,” a weekly interview series with leaders in business, politics, and entertainment.
While Cuban is known for the Mavericks and “Shark Tank,” he made his first billions with an online streaming company called AudioNet that he co-founded in 1995. The company, which later became broadcast.com, sold to Yahoo in 1999 for stock valued at $5.7 billion. Soon after, in 2000, Cuban purchased the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks for $285 million; the team is now valued at $2.3 billion, according to Forbes. He also co-founded 2929 Entertainment, a film production and distribution company.
Cuban has also invested in hundreds of start-ups as a host of the TV show “Shark Tank,” which he joined in 2012.
‘I think tariffs are attacks on the American people’
“I’m not a fan of the tariffs,” Cuban says. “I think tariffs are attacks on the American people.”
The Trump administration’s trade policies and tariffs cost U.S. consumers $1.4 billion in income per month as of November, found a study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Princeton, and Columbia.
Cuban acknowledged that his proposed ban of Chinese companies on U.S. stock exchanges could also have adverse effects for Americans—those who hold stock in the Chinese companies.
“Now, they are American shareholders, but the reality is that long term, the value of the company is the value of the company,” he says.
Trump has taken additional steps beyond the tariffs imposed on China. Last week, he declared a national emergency over threats to the U.S. posed by foreign tech companies, a move many perceived as a blow to Chinese telecommunications equipment company Huawei.
Trump is reportedly considering imposing limits on the Chinese tech firm Hikvision, which produces surveillance technology used by the Chinese government to track members of the country’s Uighur minority, about 1 million of whom have been detained in internment camps.
Serwer asked Cuban whether he had spoken to Trump about his proposed approach.
“No, no, I have not,” Cuban says.
Andy Serwer is editor-in-chief of Yahoo Finance.
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