Treasury Secretary Scott Bescent’s denying the president’s move to implement a suspension on the president’s tariffs is a result of a decline in financial markets, causing great concern for investors.
Comments come after the president issued a suspension on Wednesday for 75 countries. This shows the willingness to negotiate trade deals in good faith with the United States, according to the Trump administration. At the same time, the Trump administration raised the tariff rate on Chinese goods to 125%. This comes after China imposed its own tariffs in response to the increase in tariffs on Donald Trump’s “liberation day” last week.
“This was driven by the president’s strategy. He and I had a long talk on Saturday, and this was his strategy,” Bescent replied when asked if the tariff suspension was the result of a decline in the market. The Treasury Secretary also cited the “imbalance” of responses from various countries, particularly China, regarding its willingness to negotiate new trade deals.
Trump urges Americans to hang out “strict” about tariff plans as markets fall
Treasury Secretary Scott Bescent denied that Trump’s tariff suspension was a response to an ongoing decline in financial markets, and told reporters Wednesday that the suspension was part of Trump’s strategy. (Getty Images/Fox News)
“This is just a processing issue,” Bescent said when asked if market whiplash was a catalyst for a pause. “Each of these solutions will be made to order. It will take a little time and we are hitting a 90-day pause because President Trump wants to be involved personally.”
Meanwhile, Bessent questioned the claims from reporters, claiming that the bond market is a “crater” and that he would not show much of the information before him. Trump similarly described the current bond market as “beautiful” as he asked Wednesday about his post-duty market volatility.
“I saw people feel a bit sick last night,” Trump told reporters Wednesday about his views on the market in relation to tariffs. “[Markets] It’s been quite calm today, but for the last few days it looked rather gross. That’s a pretty big change. ”
“I think this word is flexible,” Trump added. “You have to be flexible.”
The White House deals with the fear of a recession and calls market volatility “a transition period.”
On Friday, April 4th, 2025, we broadcast TV market news on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, USA. The S&P 500 fell to 5.97% on Friday, closing its worst week since Covid. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Stocks jumped back on Tuesday and slid down again before the market closed that night. But when Trump announced his tariff suspension on Wednesday, according to Market Watch, stocks regained the best day the S&P 500 since 2008.
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Over the weekend, the president told Americans he was concerned about the ongoing market volatility about “tough hangs,” and told the plan that trillions of dollars have already been poured into the US economy.
“Hang tough, that’s not easy, but the end result is historic,” Trump wrote on Saturday in a true social post on his social media platform. “We’re going to make America great again!!”
The White House declined to comment on the story.
Michael Dorgan of Fox News contributed to this report.
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