President Donald Trump has reversed course on the steep tariffs he imposed on imports, causing global markets to plummet. The economic turmoil, particularly a rapid rise in government bond yields, led Mr. Trump to pause his “reciprocal” tariffs for most countries for the next 90 days.
Four people with direct knowledge of the president’s decision said senior members of Mr. Trump’s team had feared a financial panic that could spiral out of control and potentially devastate the economy. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and others, including Vice President JD Vance, had been pushing for a more structured approach to the trade conflict.
They wanted to focus on isolating China as the worst offender while still sending a broader message that Mr. Trump was serious about addressing trade imbalances.
Trump pauses tariffs in turmoil
When asked to explain the decision, Mr. Trump told reporters: “Well, I thought that people were jumping a little bit out of line. They were getting yippy, you know, they were getting a little bit yippy, a little bit afraid.”
For the past week, President Trump had been urging calm in the face of the financial chaos he created.
He resisted calls to rethink his approach. I know what the hell I’m doing,” he told Republicans on Tuesday as the massive tariffs he had imposed sent global markets into a tailspin. “BE COOL!” he said in a social media post on Wednesday morning.
“Everything is going to work out well.” At 9:37 a.m. Wednesday, the president was still bullish on his policy, posting on Truth Social: “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!”
But in the end, it was the markets that got him to reverse course. The president blinked on Wednesday afternoon and paused his tariffs for most countries for the next 90 days.
Image Credits: Photo by Kurt Cotoaga on Unsplash
