Stock markets turned green for a brief moment Monday morning after reports claimed that President Donald Trump is not ruling out a pause on the tariffs. To be more specific, it was reported that a 90-day pause is what the bleeding markets can expect. But moments later, the White House denied the reports and markets tanked again. “This looks a lot like a pump and dump scheme,” an X user commented as Trump aide Kevin Hassett came under fire.
What did Kevin Hassett say on Fox?
Kevin Hassett went to Fox, where he was asked if Trump would consider a 90-day pause in tariffs. Hassett did not say ‘yes’; he did not say ‘no’. “I think the president is gonna decide what the president gonna decide. There are 50 countries in negotiation with the president,” he said, downplaying the tariff. “Even if you think there will be some negative effect from the trade side, that’s still a small share of GDP,” Hassett said.
Without naming Bill Ackman, Hassett said comments like this would be economic nuclear winter are irresponsible. Bill Ackman, in fact, urged the president to pause his tariffs or risk a “self-induced, economic nuclear winter”.
White House asserted that Kevin Hassett never said that Trump would consider a 90-day pause.
Amid fears of a market mayhem today, the first day of the week after Trump announced the tariffs, Trump said there is no inflation as oil prices, interest rates and food prices are down. “This is despite the fact that the biggest abuser of them all, China, whose markets are crashing, just raised its tariffs by 34%,” Trump posted before threatening China with more tariffs.
“If China does not withdraw its 34% increase above their already long term trading abuses by tomorrow, April 8th, 2025, the United States will impose ADDITIONAL Tariffs on China of 50%, effective April 9th,” Trump posted.
No pause on Trump tariffs
While the Trump administration has been accused of intentionally creating the confusion over this pause on tariffs, White House insiders defended that there is no looking back on tariffs. Market experts, however, said the temporary green in the markets indicates that the slightest hint of a pause on the tariffs can turn the markets into positive.