Trump Hits Pause On Trade War

President Donald Trump reversed course in the global trade war he launched just a week ago, announcing in a social media post a 90-day pause on new tariffs against every country but China.

That came just hours after Trump urged the country to “BE COOL” in another post that came amid continued worldwide chaos, with China and the European Union hitting back and the financial fallout spreading to bond markets.

As he halted his broader tariff program amid rising recession fears, Trump ratcheted up tariffs against China to 125 percent, based, he wrote, “on the lack of respect that China has shown to the World’s Markets.”

Beijing on Wednesday imposed additional tariffs on imports from the United States for a total of 84 percent, a response to the White House expanding tariffs on all Chinese goods to a remarkable 104 percent.

“When you punch at the United States of America, President Trump is going to punch back harder,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters outside the West Wing following Trump’s announcement.

The walk-back by Trump sent the stock market back into positive territory after several days of huge losses. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who spoke to reporters alongside Leavitt, outlined plans to sit down with his counterparts from Japan, Vietnam and South Korea this week to work on bilateral trade agreements.

“Every country in the world who wants to come and negotiate, we are going to hear you,” said Bessent, who disputed the suggestion that Trump standing down from his trade war, which erased trillions in value from global markets in less than a week, was a recognition of the turmoil he’d created.

“No, President Trump created maximum negotiating leverage for himself,” Bessent said, noting that more than 75 countries have reached out to the administration to discuss trade relationships but that cementing formal agreements to avoid the reimplementation of tariffs would “take some time.”

Bessent, who flew to Palm Beach last weekend to discuss the spiraling trade war with the president, said that the nation’s financial markets failed to understand that Trump’s tariffs had been a maximal opening salvo in a negotiation.