Earlier this week, the U.S. stock market briefly rallied in response to speculation that Donald Trump was considering a 90-day pause to his policy on trade tariffs. The White House quickly knocked down the chatter, called it “fake news,” and the major indexes started dropping again.
A few days later, the president published an item to his social media platform that announced a 90-day pause — but not for everyone. The Republican’s oddly worded online statement read:
[B]ased on the fact that more than 75 Countries have called Representatives of the United States, including the Departments of Commerce, Treasury, and the USTR, to negotiate a solution to the subjects being discussed relative to Trade, Trade Barriers, Tariffs, Currency Manipulation, and Non Monetary Tariffs, and that these Countries have not, at my strong suggestion, retaliated in any way, shape, or form against the United States, I have authorized a 90 day PAUSE, and a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%, also effective immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
A White House spokesperson told NBC News that it does not plan to release a list of the 75 countries Trump said reached out to negotiate trade deals.
The apparent reversal came just one day after White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters, “President Trump has a spine of steel, and he will not break.” She added that the president was not considering an extension or a delay to his policy on tariffs.
It also comes just days after Trump insisted that his trade tariffs were “here to stay.” He also wrote, “MY POLICIES WILL NEVER CHANGE.”
That was before Trump said they were changing on Wednesday, at which point the domestic stock market surged.
That said, the “pause” apparently does not apply to China, which remains one of the United States’ largest trading partners. “Based on the lack of respect that China has shown to the World’s Markets, I am hereby raising the Tariff charged to China by the United States of America to 125%, effective immediately,” the president wrote in his latest missive.
Soon after Trump’s online statement reached the public, a reporter reminded Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that the White House’s latest tariffs had been in effect for less than a day and asked, “Can you explain more of the decision making on what feels like a reversal here?”
Bessent began his response, “Uh, no.” He went on to suggest that Trump, through his tactics, created negotiating leverage, which is a line deeply at odds with the White House’s line that the president was absolutely not a starting point for negotiations. I don’t doubt that Trump and his team will now scramble to put a positive spin on the developments, but when a president changes his policy just days after saying he’ll never change his policy, it’s hard to see this as anything but a retreat in the face of failure. MSNBC’s Chris Hayes summarized the developments this way by way of Bluesky: “You set the house on fire, watched it burn, and then lost your nerve and put it out. You now have a partially burned house. Great job.” This post has been updated with additional information.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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