Trump took the off-ramp.
Nearly a week after sparking chaos in markets around the world, President Donald Trump backed down from most of his original plan for reciprocal tariffs on foreign countries.
"I have authorized a 90 day PAUSE, and a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%, also effective immediately," Trump wrote Wednesday afternoon in a Truth Social post.
At the same time, Trump said he would increase tariffs on Chinese goods up to 125%, further escalating the two countries' ongoing trade war.
"At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realize that the days of ripping off the U.S.A., and other Countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable," Trump wrote.
At an impromptu news conference outside the White House, Trump was asked about his decision to issue a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs for most countries.
"I thought that people were jumping a little bit. They were getting a little bit yippy, a little afraid," he said. "No other president would have done what I did."
He also said he'd been monitoring the bond market Tuesday night.
"The bond market is very tricky, I was watching it. But if you look at it now, it's beautiful," he said. "The bond market right now is beautiful. I saw last night where people were getting a little queasy."
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Trump's announcement demonstrates that the US will reward countries that did not retaliate against Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs.
"What we have ended up with here, as I told everyone a week ago in this very spot, do not retaliate and you will be rewarded," Bessent told reporters on Wednesday. "So every country that wants to come to negotiate, we are willing to hear you."
Bessent said "everything is on the table" now that countries have the time and space to cut deals with the White House. He said that discussions will include non-tariff barriers, which Trump cited in his initial decision.
Not all tariffs are paused, Bessent said, and plans for pharmaceutical-related tariffs will continue.
Trump said that his decision to back off of the original reciprocal tariffs for countries other than China — some of which were more than 40% — was in response to more than 75 countries seeking to enter negotiations.
"The world is ready to work with President Trump to fix global trade, and China has chosen the opposite direction," Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick wrote on X, saying that he and Bessent had been sitting with Trump when he wrote his Truth Social post announcing the pause.
Scott Bessent and I sat with the President while he wrote one of the most extraordinary Truth posts of his Presidency. The world is ready to work with President Trump to fix global trade, and China has chosen the opposite direction. pic.twitter.com/wNvg8NBnSR
— Howard Lutnick (@howardlutnick) April 9, 2025
A former hedge fund manager, Bessent rejected any suggestion that Wednesday's pause was a reaction to crashing global markets. He said that Wall Street would now have a clearer sense of what's to come.
"In my 35 years in the market, I always wanted certainty," he said. "So, I think we've got more certainty."
Major business leaders, including JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and the billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, had publicly pressured the White House over continuing the tariffs. Ackman, a Trump ally, was one of the first to suggest a 90-day pause.
"If, on the other hand, on April 9th we launch economic nuclear war on every country in the world, business investment will grind to a halt, consumers will close their wallets and pocketbooks, and we will severely damage our reputation with the rest of the world that will take years and potentially decades to rehabilitate," Ackman wrote Sunday on X.
