Less than one week after announcing a series of extensive tariff increases applying to all U.S. trading partners, President Trump said he is willing to pause those tariffs for at least 90 days.
Trump said he decided on the pause based entirely on the response of other countries to his tariff policies, noting that the 90-day break is for “people that didn’t retaliate, because I told them ‘If you retaliate, we’re going to double it.'”
The tariff pause, however, does not apply to China, for which Trump said he is raising duties by 125% effectively immediately.
“At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realize that ripping off the U.S.A., and other countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable,” the President continued.
The impact of Trump’s dramatic announcement was felt on Wall Street where the S&P 500 posted a 9.5% gain, the largest such single-day gain seen in 17 years. That gain partly made up for an ongoing 12% stock decline since Trump originally announced his tariff policies on April 2.
Despite the pause in the Administration’s reciprocal tariffs, a separate 10% blanket duty on nearly all imports remains in place.
Published reports indicate that Trump was willing to push the pause button simply since so many countries, in response to the April 2 announcement, were now in active negotiations with the U.S. in the hope of hammering out new and individual tariff policies.
But it is also thought that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent may have played a significant role in the matter. For his part, Bessent has said that the pause has been a part of the President’s strategy “all along.”
In a press conference outside the White House, Bessent said, “We have been overwhelmed by the response from mostly our allies who want to come and negotiate in good faith. So, we are expecting them to come with their best deal.”
Senate Democrat Minority Leader Charles Schumer of New York said that Trump halted the tariffs because he is hearing from across people across America about “how bad these tariffs are.”
“He is reeling, he is retreating,” remarked Schumer, “and that is a good thing.”
April 10, 2025
By Garry Boulard
Photo courtesy of Unsplash
