President Donald Trump just made a case for "worldwide trickle down" economics during his speech at the World Economic Forum, CNBC's Jim Cramer said Friday.
"Davos is a conversation about how to get the poor to be rich," Cramer said on "Squawk on the Street," shortly after the president's "America First" speech in Davos, Switzerland.
Trump spoke "about how to get the rich to be even richer and therefore the poor will do better. Kind of a worldwide trickle down," Cramer contended.
Trickle down theory, popularized during the presidency of Ronald Reagan, maintains that cutting taxes, particularly for U.S. companies, will spur economic growth and help everyday Americans. There's been a fierce debate years, split largely along party lines, on whether it works.
Trump, the first sitting U.S. president in 18 years to address the annual conclave of the rich and powerful, said the U.S. was "open for business," casting the U.S. as a hospitable business environment, boosted in part by the corporate tax cut enacted by Republicans last year.
Cramer said Trump's speech was not typical of American leaders.
"I think he made a great sales pitch for America," said Cramer, the host of CNBC's "Mad Money." "That's not what anyone has ever done at Davos."
Trump struck an inclusive tone, inviting other world leaders to do business in the U.S.
The president was saying, "'I'm with ya,'" Cramer said. "He's not saying you can't come to our place. He's saying you better come to our place."
Correction: An earlier version misstated the length of time since a U.S. president had spoken at Davos. President Bill Clinton did so 18 years ago.