Less than a day after his trade tariffs were fully implemented, Donald Trump dramatically altered his policy, announcing a 90-day “pause” for much of his agenda. Pressed for an explanation, the president told reporters that he thought “people” were “getting a little bit yipee.”

The actual explanation was far scarier. NBC News reported that there was deep concern — “bordering on panic” — among top White House officials about the bond markets, which was the real reason for Trump’s reversal.

The Republican was asked about this on Friday night, en route to his latest weekend in Florida.

Asked specifically about the bond market, the Republican said, “The bond market’s going good. It had a little moment, but I solved that problem very quickly. I am very good at that stuff.”

Every element of this was wrong. The bond market is most certainly not “going good.” It had more than “a little moment.” Far from “solving” the problem, he actually created it. The threat did not pass “very quickly.” And to the extent that Trump is “very good” at anything, it clearly is not this “stuff.”

For those unfamiliar with the underlying issue, it has been a staple of global finance for generations: In times of tumult, U.S. Treasury bonds are the international safe haven for investors. Even when the United States has been the cause of an economic crisis — such as the 2008 crash that resulted in the downturn known as the Great Recession — investors and financial institutions around the world still turned to our government bonds.

The reason for this has long been obvious: Putting aside the politics of the moment, for roughly eight decades, the United States was recognized as the planet’s preeminent superpower, with the world’s largest economy and most stable democracy.

In times of unrest and uncertainty, observers the world over could agree that U.S. Treasuries were a safe bet — the safest bet — because the United States could be counted on for stability and steady leadership. Our bonds are backed by the full faith and credit of our government, which meant they were rock solid in the eyes of, well, effectively everyone.

It’s precisely why last week was different. As global markets fell, the assumption was that people would do what they’ve long done and interest rates on 10-year Treasury bonds would fall. But that’s not what happened: Rates went up, not down. As The New York Times reported over the weekend:

[T]urmoil in bond markets last week revealed the extent to which President Trump has shaken faith in that basic proposition, challenging the previously unimpeachable solidity of U.S. government debt. His trade war — now focused intently on China — has raised the prospect of a worldwide economic downturn while damaging American credibility as a responsible steward of peace and prosperity.

The report added that the yield on 10-year U.S. Treasuries saw their “most pronounced spike in nearly a quarter century,” while the value of the dollar fell, “even as tariffs would normally be expected to push it up.”

The Times quoted Mark Blyth, a political economist at Brown University, who said, “The whole world has decided that the U.S. government has no idea what it’s doing.”

I’ve lost count of how many similar assessments I’ve seen in recent days. For example, George Saravelos, the head of foreign exchange research at Deutsche Bank, told The Guardian, “The damage has been done. The market is reassessing the structural attractiveness of the dollar as the world’s global reserve currency and is undergoing a process of rapid de-dollarization.” (Note, Deutsche Bank was Trump’s go-to financial institution for much of his adult life.)

No wonder White House officials were “bordering on panic.” The greater the concerns that investors are turning against U.S. assets, the more reason there is to doubt our economic future.

Ernie Tedeschi, a former top economist in the Biden administration who’s now the director of economics at Yale University’s Budget Lab, told NBC News, “If Treasuries are not a safe-haven asset, that has major implications for balance sheets across the board — businesses, nonprofits, pensions, households. So much of world finance is predicated on U.S. Treasuries being safe.”

He called recent bond market trends “the most concerning piece of data since the tariffs began,” adding, “It’s showing a deterioration in confidence in the U.S.’s place in the world.”

I won’t pretend to know what’s likely to happen next, but I noticed that Priya Misra, a portfolio manager at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, told The Washington Post, “We’re still worried.”