In a dramatic move Wednesday, President Donald Trump says he has authorized a 90-day pause in the higher tariffs for most countries he announced last week - while maintaining a 10% baseline tariff across the board.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters, "It took great courage, great courage for him to stay the course until this moment," reiterating what he mentioned a week ago, "do not retaliate, and you will be rewarded."
The pause would not apply to China - on which Trump said he was raising the U.S. tariff to 125% because, unlike other countries, Bessent said, it was unwilling to make a deal.
U.S. stocks closed with major gains on Wednesday after President Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause on some tariffs.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 2,962 points, or 7.8%, marking the index's best day since 2020.
The S&P 500 jumped 9.5%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq soared 12.1%.
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President Donald Trump has announced that countries subject to reciprocal tariffs will have a lowered 10% rate for 90 days, according to a new social media post.
This does not apply to China, which Trump says is now subject to a 125% tariff rate following their retaliatory tariff announced earlier Wednesday.
"Based on the lack of respect that China has shown to the World's Markets, I am hereby raising the Tariff charged to China by the United States of America to 125%, effective immediately," Trump wrote.
President Donald Trump was asked about his change in tariff policy and said he was honored to have hit the tariffs.
"I thought people were... getting yippie," he said.
The president continued to slam China over its policies and warned that "Nothing's over yet."
A majority of Americans said the tariffs will hurt the U.S. economy in both the short and long-term, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday.
For the short-term, 72% of voters think the tariffs will hurt the U.S. economy, while 22% think the tariffs will help the U.S. economy. Roughly 53% of Americans said the tariffs will hurt the economy long-term, according to the poll.
"Will time reduce the pain? Some think it will, but a majority don't envision that happening," Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Tim Malloy said in a statement.
The university polled 1,407 self-identified registered voters nationwide from April 3 to April 7. The poll has a margin of error of +/- 2.6 percentage points.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday that President Donald Trump wants to be involved in talks with countries that have signaled they want to negotiate on tariffs.
"Each one of these solutions is going to be bespoke, it is going to take some time, and President Trump wants to be personally involved. So that's why we're giving the 90-day pause," Bessent told reporters.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt took some reporter questions outside the White House shortly after President Donald Trump announced a pause on some tariffs for countries except China.
"The 90-day pause on the reciprocal tariffs, is that because of the whiplash that we've been seeing across the financial markets? How much was what we saw in the stock markets a part of this decision?" a reporter asked.
"No," Bessent replied, "it's because of the large number of inbounds -- we've had more than 75 countries contact us, and I imagine after today, there will be more."
