On Monday, the White House denied reports implying that President Donald Trump was considering a 90-day pause in implementing his full range of reciprocal tariffs, based on a news report.
American stock markets began the day in the red for the third consecutive day but later rebounded sharply and traded around break-even levels as investors sought to gauge the validity of rumors of a tariff pause.
The administration, according to The Wall Street Journal, denied having any such plans. "Fake news," a text message from a White House official to the publication read, according to the report.
High-profile Wall Street financier Bill Ackman previously lobbied for a 90-day suspension of the tariffs in a post on X. I do have a tremendous amount of respect for our President and what he has done to date, but I don't believe that he is perfect, and that's why I'm going to tell you loud and clear that I have a very strong opinion that imposing tariffs on April 9th on the entire world — hugely in excess of what we're being asked to pay — is a mistake," Ackman said.
He further said, "Skeptics are trying to discredit my opinion by making the argument that I am conflicted or otherwise susceptible to tariffs, a market correction or a crash, or that I have somehow structured our portfolio to profit from my suggested 90-day halt on the imposition of reciprocal tariffs."
The Journal also observed that the false report could have caused a record-breaking surge in U.S. markets, with the S&P 500 jumping 7 percent in only 30 minutes of trading in the mid-morning session.
President Trump and his administration are undeterred by market volatility and continue to be firm on the tariff policy, making new threats of additional tariffs against China.
In a blistering post on his Truth Social site, Trump said: "Yesterday, China imposed Retaliatory Tariffs of 34 per cent, in addition to their already record setting Tariffs, Non-Monetary Tariffs, Illegal Subsidization of businesses, and enormous long term Currency Manipulation, despite my warning that any nation which Retaliates against the US by imposing further Tariffs, above and beyond their already long term Tariff abuse of our Country, will be immediately hit with new and significantly higher Tariffs, over and above those originally set.". So, if China fails to rollback their 34 per cent excess over their already longstanding trading exploitations by tomorrow, April 8th, 2025, the United States will introduce ADDITIONAL Tariffs on China by 50 per cent effective April 9th. In addition, all discussions with China about their invited meetings with us will be scrapped! Discussions with other nations that have also sought meetings will now commence in earnest!. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
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