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The stock market was soaring and the sun was shining when President Donald Trump stepped out of the Oval Office on Wednesday afternoon. Less than two hours earlier, he had retreated from his plans to increase tariffs on many U.S. trading partners, and investors were rejoicing after bracing for a global economic meltdown.
“You’ve got the markets seeing your brilliance,” Sen. John Barrasso, a Republican from Wyoming, told the president.
Trump agreed. “Nobody’s ever heard of it,” he declared.
It was a typical bit of hyperbole that, in this case, was true. Even by the standards of Trump’s second term, the saga that had played out over the past week left the world struggling to catch its breath.
The president, of his own doing, had single-handedly pushed the global economy to the brink of chaos with new tariffs. The stock market cratered, businesses tore up their plans, and foreign leaders prepared for a future without the world’s richest nation at the center of international trade.
And then Trump backed down. Seven days after announcing what would have amounted to America’s largest tax hike since World War II in an elaborate Rose Garden ceremony, he rolled back most of the tariffs in a surprise post on his social media website.
“I think the word would be flexible,” he said later, despite days of insisting that he wouldn’t bend. “You have to be flexible.”
Uncertainty lingers as trade talks continue
It was unclear what the president had accomplished, beyond the satisfaction of, in his words, having other countries “kissing my ass” to try to talk him out of the tariffs. No new trade deals have been reached, although administration officials said negotiations are underway.
However, real damage has been done. The back-and-forth over tariffs shook confidence in U.S. leadership, exposed fractures within Trump’s team and rattled companies that rely on global sources for products and international customers for sales. Americans who use the stock market to save for retirement and college suffered days of angst.
The turmoil isn’t over yet, either. Trump’s 10% blanket tariffs initially imposed on Saturday are now applied to dozens of nations. He also jacked up tariffs to 125% on imports from China, leaving the world bracing for a showdown between the first and second largest economies. There are 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, America’s largest trading partners, as well as 25% taxes on imported autos, steel, and aluminum.
Other tariffs — including 24% on Japan, 25% on South Korea, 20% on the European Union — are on hold for 90 days to allow for trade talks.
“This just accentuates the policy uncertainty and sense of unreliability Trump is creating,’’ said William Reinsch, a former U.S. trade official now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. While Reinsch said it’s good news that Trump didn’t move forward with some of his highest tariffs, “how does anybody know that he won’t change his mind on Friday or next week?”
Trump makes his announcement on ‘Liberation Day’
U.S. flags were draped along the White House colonnade for a red-white-and-blue backdrop when Trump announced his tariffs on Wednesday, April 2.
“My fellow Americans, this is Liberation Day,” he said. The president held up a poster listing the tariffs that he would slap on each country — 32% for Thailand, 49% for Cambodia, 26% for India, and on and on. People around the world squinted to decipher the numbers that would reset critical economic relationships.
Trump has been fixated on international trade for decades, long before entering politics. His central concern is trade deficits, meaning the U.S. imports more than it exports.
But the focus puzzles mainstream economists, who don’t view the situation with the same level of alarm. It’s no surprise, they said, that a rich nation like the U.S. would buy more than it sells, and they’re generally skeptical that tariffs alone would eliminate trade deficits.
However, Trump declared that it was a “national emergency” that would allow him to push tariffs without congressional approval. His tariffs were not based on the import taxes charged by other countries but by the size of each trade deficit, a calculation that instantly discredited the policy with many economists and investors. Also baffling were the tariffs placed on Heard and McDonald Islands, which are mainly populated by penguins.
The day after the announcement, Trump jetted to Florida for the weekend.
“The markets are going to boom, the stock is going to boom, the country is going to boom,” he promised while leaving the White House, the whirring rotors of Marine One sometimes overpowering his voice. “And the rest of the world wants to see if there is any way they can make a deal.”
But the market was crashing, posting its biggest single-day loss since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic five years earlier. And it didn’t get any better as Trump attended a Saudi-funded tournament at his Miami golf course and participated in a candle-lit dinner for an allied political organization.
On the flight back to Washington on Sunday evening, Trump told reporters that he won a club championship.
“It’s good to win,” he said. “You heard I won, right?”
But around the country and the world, the fallout was spreading.
Fulcrum Coffee Roasters in Seattle braced for rising costs for beans from Southeast Asia and espresso machines from Italy. Stellantis, the automaker behind brands like Jeep and Ram, announced it would pause production at plants in Mexico and Canada, leading to temporary layoffs at other facilities in Indiana and Michigan, a reminder of how interconnected vehicle supply chains have become.
The Dutch division of Tata Steel said it would cut 1,600 employees, about a fifth of its workforce. Ireland Prime Minister Michael Martin said “there is no way to sugar coat” the situation as business with the U.S. started tapering off. Sri Lanka worried that its economic recovery would be derailed as its clothing industry faced new tariffs from its most important export market.
Trump faces growing pushback from his own party
The markets were still in a panic on Monday when an unverified report circulated that the president was considering a 90-day pause on the tariffs. Stocks briefly soared before investors realized the information was wrong.
“We’re not looking at that,” Trump said as hopes for the rumored reprieve vanished.
By Tuesday, with fears of a recession growing, Trump’s closest advisers began publicly sparring with one another. Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, who leads the administration’s efforts to trim the size of government, openly questioned the wisdom of the tariffs, which would raise costs for his electric automaker Tesla. White House trade adviser Peter Navarro insisted that Musk “doesn’t understand” the situation. Musk fired back that Navarro was “truly a moron” and “dumber than a sack of bricks.”
Republican lawmakers returning to the Capitol for the workweek were peppered with questions about the tariffs and what they would do in response. Some began voicing support for legislation meant to rein in a president’s tariff powers, before the White House struck back forcefully with a veto threat.
Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin was asked on Tuesday if he understood Trump’s strategy, and responded by asking, “Does anybody?” Some of his state’s premier companies, like Kohl’s, expected higher costs, while its dairy farms expected to struggle to sell milk and cheese. Harley-Davidson was a target of planned reciprocal tariffs by the European Union.
Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina was even more blunt that day during a hearing with Trump’s top trade representative, Jamieson Greer. If the tariff plans don’t work, he said, “I’m just trying to figure out whose throat I need to choke.” His state’s farmers, who raise hogs and grow tobacco among other products, feared getting caught in the crossfire of a trade war, while local manufacturers and tech companies could face higher prices on what they export to foreign consumers.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, a former hedge fund manager with intimate knowledge of the financial sector, held a round of meetings on Capitol Hill, including a lunch with Sen. John Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana.
Kennedy had grown concerned about the tariffs, and he said they “talked very frankly.” He was part of a group of senators who sat down for an interview with Sean Hannity on Tuesday night in hopes of swaying Trump’s mind through one of his favorite Fox News hosts.
Trump had been brushing off concerns about the tariffs and the market collapse by saying “sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something.”
Kennedy wasn’t convinced, even if he shared the president’s concerns about unfair trade practices.
“We don’t know if the medicine will be worse than the disease,” he said.
Trump retreats, and aides call it part of the strategy all along
The tariffs on allies like Japan, South Korea, and the European Union took effect at 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday, and there were no signs that Trump would back down when the sun came up in Washington.
“BE COOL! Everything is going to work out well,” he posted on Truth Social.
Trump also wrote: “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!” — advice that turned out to be fortuitous. The president later said he’d been talking with his aides that morning about pausing the tariffs, an announcement that would send the stock market soaring.
Greer was back on Capitol Hill for another hearing when Trump made his announcement.
Rep. Steven Horsford, a Nevada Democrat, asked if Trump’s trade representative knew that the tariffs he had just spent at least two hours defending had been paused.
“I understand the decision was made a few minutes ago,” Greer said.
Horsford erupted, saying, “This is amateur hour, and it needs to stop.”
At the White House, press secretary Karoline Leavitt scolded reporters for not understanding the president’s plans.
“Many of you in the media clearly missed The Art of the Deal,” she said, referencing Trump’s book from 1987. “You clearly failed to see what President Trump is doing here.”
But the administration sent mixed messages even as it rolled back the tariffs.
Bessent said the decision had nothing to do with the markets.
“This was driven by the president’s strategy,” he told reporters outside the West Wing. “He and I had a long talk on Sunday, and this was his strategy all along.”
Trump later contradicted Bessent.
“I was watching the bond market,” he said. “That bond market is very tricky.”
Despite the retreat, Trump showed no signs of regret. He was seeing dollar signs as he chatted with championship race car drivers in the Oval Office.
In a video posted by one of his aides, the president gestured to two corporate executives.
“He made $2.5 billion today, and he made $900 million,” he said. “That’s not bad.”
President Donald Trump's 90-day pause on most reciprocal tariffs prompted Goldman Sachs to quickly reverse its recession forecast. Just before the pause, its economists expected a 65% chance of a recession within the next year. Following Trump's backtrack, Goldman reverted to its previous expectation: GDP growth of 0.5% and a 45% chance of a recession. But some economists are skeptical of Goldman's about-face, saying decisions about the likelihood of a downturn shouldn't hinge on one policy move.
When Donald Trump offered some financial advice Wednesday morning, stocks were wavering between gains and losses.
But that was about to change.
“THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT,” he wrote on his social media platform Truth Social at 9:37 a.m.
Less than four hours later, Trump announced a 90-day pause on nearly all his tariffs. Stocks soared on the news, closing up 9.5% by the end of trading. The market, measured by the S&P 500, gained back about $4 trillion, or 70%, of the value it had lost over the previous four trading days.
It was a prescient call by the president. Maybe too prescient.
“He’s loving this, this control over markets, but he better be careful,” said Trump critic and former White House ethics lawyer, Richard Painter, noting that securities law prohibits trading on insider information or helping others do so. “The people who bought when they saw that post made a lot of money.”
The question is, was Trump already contemplating the tariff pause when he made that post?
Asked about when he arrived at his decision, Trump gave a muddled answer.
“I would say this morning,” he said. “Over the last few days, I’ve been thinking about it.”
Asked for clarification on the timing in an email to the White House later, a spokesperson didn’t answer directly but defended Trump’s post as part of his job.
“It is the responsibility of the President of the United States to reassure the markets and Americans about their economic security in the face of nonstop media fearmongering,” wrote White House spokesman Kush Desai.
Another curiosity of the posting was Trump’s sign-off with his initials.
DJT is also the stock symbol for Trump Media and Technology Group, the parent company of the president’s social media platform Truth Social.
It’s not clear if Trump was saying to buy stocks in general, or Trump Media in particular. The White House was asked, but didn’t address that either. Trump includes “DJT” on his posts intermittently, typically to emphasize that he has personally written the message.
The ambiguity about what Trump meant didn’t stop people from pouring money into that stock.
Trump Media closed up 22.67%, soaring twice as much as the broader market, a stunning performance by a company that lost $400 million last year and is seemingly unaffected by whether tariffs would be imposed or paused.
Trump’s 53% ownership stake in the company, now in a trust controlled by his oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., rose by $415 million on the day.
Trump Media was bested, albeit by only two-hundredths of a percentage point, by another Trump administration stock pick — Elon Musk’s Tesla.
Last month, Trump held an extraordinary news conference outside the White House praising the company and its cars. That was followed by a Fox TV appearance by his commerce secretary urging viewers to buy the stock.
Tesla’s surge on Wednesday added $20 billion to Musk’s fortunes.
Kathleen Clark, a government ethics law expert at Washington University School of Law, says Trump’s post in other administrations would have been investigated, but is not likely not to trigger any reaction, save for maybe more Truth Social viewers.
“He’s sending the message that he can effectively and with impunity manipulate the market,” she said, “As in: Watch this space for future stock tips.”
A recent stock market rally has drawn attention to the effects of tariffs on major companies like Tesla, Apple, and Delta Air Lines. As global trade dynamics continue to shift, these industry giants are navigating challenges posed by fluctuating tariff policies that could influence their profitability and market performance.
Tesla: Navigating Trade Headwinds
Tesla, the electric vehicle (EV) pioneer, is facing headwinds due to rising tariffs on imported components and finished vehicles. With a significant portion of its supply chain reliant on international markets, the company is grappling with increased production costs. These tariffs could pressure Tesla's profit margins unless it accelerates efforts to localize manufacturing or passes on the added costs to consumers through higher vehicle prices.
However, Tesla’s ability to innovate and adapt remains a key strength. The company has been expanding its production facilities globally, including its Gigafactory in Texas and plans for more localized manufacturing. This strategy may help mitigate the impact of tariffs over the long term, but in the short term, investors remain cautious about potential earnings volatility.
Apple: Balancing Global Supply Chains
For Apple, tariffs present a complex challenge as the tech giant relies heavily on overseas manufacturing, particularly in China. Rising import taxes on products like iPhones, MacBooks, and other devices could lead to higher retail prices, potentially dampening consumer demand. Additionally, Apple faces pressure to diversify its supply chain to reduce reliance on regions affected by geopolitical tensions.
The company has already begun exploring alternative manufacturing hubs, such as India and Vietnam, but transitioning away from established networks takes time. In the interim, Apple may need to absorb some of the tariff-related costs to maintain its competitive edge, which could weigh on its financial results in upcoming quarters. Delta Air Lines: Fuel Costs and Trade Policies
Delta Air Lines is another major player feeling the pinch of tariffs, albeit indirectly. While airlines aren’t directly subject to import taxes, they are highly sensitive to fuel prices, which can be influenced by trade policies and global economic conditions. Tariffs on energy products or disruptions in oil-exporting countries can drive up jet fuel costs, squeezing airline margins.
Moreover, Delta’s international operations expose it to currency fluctuations and regulatory changes stemming from trade disputes. To counteract these pressures, the airline is focusing on cost management and optimizing routes to ensure profitability despite an uncertain macroeconomic environment.
Broader Market Implications
The stock market rally reflects optimism about economic growth, but lingering concerns about tariffs highlight vulnerabilities for multinational corporations. Investors are closely monitoring how companies like Tesla, Apple, and Delta respond to these challenges, as their strategies will shape not only their individual performances but also broader market sentiment.
In conclusion, while tariffs pose significant risks, they also create opportunities for innovation and strategic realignment. Companies that successfully navigate this complex landscape stand to emerge stronger, even as uncertainty persists in the global trading system.
Americans have been celebrating their freedom from monarchical rule for nearly 250 years, but Liberation Day will not make it onto the 2026 calendar. President Donald Trump’s economic version of the Declaration of Independence ended on Wednesday afternoon, less than seven days after he unveiled it with great fanfare in the White House Rose Garden. He rolled back most of his reckless tariffs, sparking a rally in stocks, bonds, and the dollar, but many national scars will linger.
In a stunning reversal, United States President Donald Trump said on Wednesday (Apr 9) he would temporarily lower the hefty duties he had just imposed on dozens of countries while further ramping up pressure on China, sending US stocks rocketing higher.
Trump's turnabout, which came less than 24 hours after steep new tariffs kicked in on most trading partners, followed the most intense episode of financial market volatility since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. The upheaval erased trillions of dollars from stock markets and led to an unsettling surge in US government bond yields that appeared to catch Trump's attention.
"I saw last night that people were getting a little queasy," Trump told reporters following his announcement. "The bond market right now is beautiful.
"I thought that people were jumping a little bit out of line, they were getting yippy, you know," he added, referring to a golf term.
Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has repeatedly threatened an array of punitive measures on trading partners, only to revoke some of them at the last minute. The on-again, off-again approach has baffled world leaders and spooked business executives, who say the uncertainty has made it difficult to forecast market conditions.
The day's events cast into stark relief the uncertainty surrounding Trump's policies and how he and his team create and implement them. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent asserted that the pullback had been the plan all along to bring countries to the bargaining table.
Trump, though, later indicated that the near-panic in markets that had unfolded since his Apr 2 announcements had factored in to his thinking. Despite insisting for days that his policies would never change, he told reporters on Wednesday: "You have to be flexible."
But he kept the pressure on China, the No. 2 provider of US imports. Trump said he would raise the tariff on Chinese imports to 125 per cent from the 104 per cent level that took effect at midnight, further escalating a high-stakes confrontation between the world's two largest economies. The two countries have traded tit-for-tat tariff hikes repeatedly over the past week.
Trump's reversal on the country-specific tariffs is not absolute. A 10 per cent blanket duty on almost all US imports will remain in effect, the White House said. The announcement also does not appear to affect duties on autos, steel, and aluminum that are already in place.
The 90-day freeze also does not apply to duties paid by Canada and Mexico, because their goods are still subject to 25 per cent fentanyl-related tariffs if they do not comply with the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement's rules of origin. Those duties remain in place for the moment, with an indefinite exemption for USMCA-compliant goods.
"China is unlikely to change its strategy: stand firm, absorb pressure, and let Trump overplay his hand. Beijing believes Trump sees concessions as a weakness, so giving ground only invites more pressure," said Daniel Russel, vice president of international security and diplomacy at the Asia Society Policy Institute.
"Other countries will welcome the 90-day stay of execution - if it lasts - but the whiplash from constant zigzags creates more of the uncertainty that businesses and governments hate," Russel said.
US stock indexes shot higher on the news, with the benchmark S&P 500 index closing 9.5 per cent higher. Bond yields came off earlier highs, and the dollar rebounded against safe-haven currencies.
Trump's tariffs had sparked a days-long selloff that erased trillions of dollars from global stocks and pressured US Treasury bonds and the dollar, which form the backbone of the global financial system. Canada and Japan said they would step in to provide stability if needed - a task usually performed by the US during times of economic crisis.
Analysts said the sudden spike in share prices might not undo all of the damage. Surveys have found slowing business investment and household spending due to worries about the impact of the tariffs, and a Reuters/Ipsos survey found that three out of four Americans expect prices to increase in the months ahead.
Goldman Sachs cut its probability of a recession back to 45 per cent after Trump's move, down from 65 per cent, saying the tariffs left in place were still likely to result in a 15 per cent increase in the overall tariff rate.
Treasury Secretary Bessent shrugged off questions about market turmoil and said the abrupt reversal rewarded countries that had heeded Trump's advice to refrain from retaliation. He suggested Trump had used the tariffs to create “maximum negotiating leverage for himself”.
"This was his strategy all along," Bessent told reporters. “And you might even say that he goaded China into a bad position. They responded. They have shown themselves to the world to be the bad actor.”
Bessent is the point person in the country-by-country negotiations that could address foreign aid and military cooperation as well as economic matters. Trump has spoken with leaders of Japan and South Korea, and a delegation from Vietnam was due to meet with US officials on Wednesday.
Bessent declined to say how long negotiations with the more than 75 countries that have reached out might take.
Trump said a resolution with China was possible as well. But officials have said they will prioritise talks with other countries.
"China wants to make a deal," Trump said. "They just don't know how quite to go about it."
Trump told reporters that he had been considering a pause for several days. On Monday, the White House denounced a report that the administration was considering such a move, calling it "fake news".
Earlier on Wednesday, before the announcement, Trump tried to reassure investors, posting on his Truth Social account, "BE COOL! Everything is going to work out well. The USA will be bigger and better than ever before!"
Later, he added: "THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!"
As President Donald Trump’s tariffs roil global markets, some of the thought leaders and influential podcasters who backed the Republican’s campaign are voicing doubts.
Barstool Sports owner Dave Portnoy, hedge fund manager Bill Ackman and even Elon Musk are adding their voices to a number of congressional Republicans who have weighed in against the tariffs set to take effect on Wednesday.
Here’s a look at some of what they’ve said:
Ben Shapiro
The conservative commentator — who initially backed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in last year’s GOP presidential primary before lending his support to Trump — said Saturday on the “All-In” podcast that he saw “contradictory” claims as to what Trump’s tariff proposals are intended to do.
“I think that the way that the tariff plan was rolled out is about as bad a rollout as you could do,” Shapiro said.
In a video posted Monday to his more than 7 million subscribers on YouTube, Shapiro reiterated that argument and said that the idea that tariffs are good and make us rich is “really problematic.”
“The idea that this is inherently good and makes the American economy strong is wrongheaded,” Shapiro said. “It’s untrue. The idea that it is going to result in massive re-shoring of manufacturing is also untrue.”
Dave Portnoy
“Welcome to Orange Monday,” Portnoy said on his “Davey Day Trader” financial livestream, just before markets opened this week, saying there’s “no political agenda” to his commentary, other than to make money.
After last week’s market plunge, Portnoy said he had lost $7 million “in stocks and crypto,” a figure he estimated on Monday was likely closer to $20 million, or up to 15% of his net worth.
But, Portnoy has said, he plans to stick with Trump, whom he has called “a smart guy.”
“I think they’re smarter than me when it comes to these tariffs. I also think he’s playing a high-stakes game here,” Portnoy said last week on his livestream. “I’m gonna roll with him for a couple of days, a couple of weeks, see how this pans out.”
Founded by Portnoy in 2003 as a free sports and gambling newspaper, Barstool has grown into a digital platform covering sports, lifestyle, and entertainment, with hundreds of millions of followers. Portnoy has been a loyal Trump supporter since first endorsing him in 2016, interviewing the president at the White House in 2020.
Joe Rogan
Rogan, one of the nation’s most influential podcasters who endorsed Trump on the eve of last year’s election, said in March that Trump’s feud with Canada was “stupid” and bemoaned the fact that Canadians “booed us over tariffs” during professional sporting events featuring teams from both countries.
Rogan has recently broken with Trump in other areas, including over wide-ranging deportations, referring to a recent operation to detain immigrants as “horrific.”
Just weeks before Election Day, Rogan taped a nearly three-hour podcast interview with Trump, an opportunity for the Republican nominee to highlight the hypermasculine tone that defined much of his 2024 White House bid.
Bill Ackman
The pro-Trump hedge fund manager warned Sunday on X that “we are heading for a self-induced, economic nuclear winter” unless Trump took a more deliberate approach, likening the full tariff activation to “economic nuclear war.”
In another post later Sunday, Ackman assailed Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick as “indifferent to the stock market and the economy crashing.” The next day, Ackman apologized for his criticism claiming that Lutnick — previously the head of the financial firm Cantor Fitzgerald — could benefit from the tariffs because of its bond investments.
But the hedge fund manager also reiterated his concerns about Trump’s tariffs.
“I am just frustrated watching what I believe to be a major policy error occur after our country and the president have been making huge economic progress that is now at risk due to the tariffs,” he wrote on X.
Elon Musk
Even the billionaire top adviser to Trump on overhauling the federal government is expressing skepticism about tariffs, which he has said would drive up costs for Tesla, his electric automaker.
“I hope it is agreed that both Europe and the United States should move, ideally in my view, to a zero-tariff situation, effectively creating a free trade zone between Europe and North America,” Musk said in a video conference with Italian politicians.
On Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said that Musk “doesn’t understand” the situation.
Musk fired back on Tuesday, calling Navarro “truly a moron” and “dumber than a sack of bricks.”
