KEY POINTS
  • Investors must realize the "trust gap" is driving U.S.-China trade negotiations, or "we'll forever be playing this game of 'deal or no deal'" and the market will keep getting "hammered," CNBC's Jim Cramer says.
  • "The [trade] hardliners have the upper hand, people, especially after today's statement from the Federal Reserve that inflation is negligible and the economy's fine—not too hot, not too cold," the "Mad Money" host says.
  • "It's terrific to have the Fed on our side here, but the trade war with China remains on the side of the bears for now, which is why today's session ultimately didn't the bull's way," he says.

Trade negotiations between the United States and China have boiled down to whether President Donald Trump can trust the Chinese or not, CNBC's Jim Cramer said Wednesday.

"It's not about the trade gap, people. It's about the trust gap," the "Mad Money" host said. "Until investors realize that's what's driving these negotiations, we'll forever be playing this game of 'deal or no deal,' and the market will get hammered every time people realize that we're a long way from reaching a big kind of deal with any kind of accommodation with China."