On Wednesday, President Donald Trump announced via Truth Social that the U.S. would impose steeper tariffs on China and that reciprocal tariffs would be paused for 90 days as the White House worked on new trade deals.
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The news quickly stimulated markets, which shot up in the minutes following the announcement. The S&P 500 rose nearly 7 percent, while treasury yields, which had been climbing earlier Wednesday, dropped sharply.
“This was driven by the president’s strategy,” said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. “You might even say that he goaded China into a bad position. They responded. They have shown themselves to the world to be the bad actors, and we are willing to cooperate with our allies and with our trading partners who did not retaliate.”
