Stock Market Reacts to Trump Pausing Tariffs

Mere minutes after President Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause on tariffs for more than 75 trading partners that did not retaliate, the stock market is booming.

The S&P 500 was up 8.3% with less than an hour remaining in trading, approaching one of its best days in decades. The Dow surged 2,600 points, its biggest rally in five years.

“I have authorized a 90 day PAUSE,” Trump announced.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Trump’s negotiating strategy succeeded because it brought more than 75 countries to the table.

“It took great courage, great courage for him to stay the course until this moment, and it ended up here,” Bessent told reporters. “As I told everyone a week ago in this very spot, ‘Do not retaliate, and you will be rewarded.’ So every country in the world wants to come and negotiate. We are willing to hear you. We’re going to go down to a 10% baseline tariff we have for them, and China will be raised to 125%.”

Because China placed steep retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods, it will see an even larger hike in levies on its products, totaling 125%.

Trump said he might consider exempting some American companies from the tariffs over the 90-day pause period, adding his thinking on that would be made “instinctively.”

Americans “were getting a little queasy,” Trump said, leading to Wednesday’s pause.

“Well, I thought that people were jumping a little bit out of line,” Trump told reporters. “They were getting yippie, you know, they were getting a little bit yippy, a little bit afraid, unlike these champions, because we have a big job to do. No other president would have done what I did. No other president, I know the presidents, they wouldn’t have done it.”

“And it had to be done,” the president continued. “What was happening to us on trade, not only with—you know, if you look at it, not only with China, but China was by far the biggest abuser in history and others, also. But somebody had to do it. They had to stop because it was not sustainable.”