Trump's tariff twist triggers historic stock market surge

On Wednesday, Donald Trump suddenly announced a 90-day suspension of tariffs, except for those imposed on China, which have been increased and now total 145%.

- I did a 90-day pause for the people that didn’t retaliate, because I told them, ‘If you retaliate, we’re going to double it.' And that’s what I did with China, because they did retaliate. So we’ll see how it all works out. I think it’s going to work out amazing - said the U.S. president that day.

The American stock market reacted immediately. Wall Street witnessed the highest rises in years. After a "bloody red" on the New York Stock Exchange, there was juicy green. The Dow Jones Industrial rose 7.87% at the close of Wednesday's session, or 2963 points, reaching 40,608.45 points. The S&P 500 rose 9.52% to 5456.90 points by the end of the day. The Nasdaq Composite increased by 12.16% to 17,124.97 points - as reported by Reuters, it was the largest percentage increase of this index since 2001 and the second highest in its history. Other indices also recorded increases unseen for years.

Let's recall that on Monday, red dominated stock exchanges worldwide. The scale of declines on financial markets is significant overseas as well. The American S&P 500 lost 2.8%, and the Nasdaq decreased by 3.7%. A comparable decline, reaching 3.7%, affected the Russell 2000 index, which tracks smaller company stocks.

However, during the day, there was a rebound when, for several minutes, social media and mainstream outlets - Reuters, CNBC, and Yahoo Finance - buzzed with rumours that Trump would suspend tariffs on 7th April. This was enough for stock values to rise by $2.5 (£1.9) trillion compared to previous declines. Suddenly, the main indices on Wall Street changed course and sharply moved upwards, reported Reuters.

The White House denied these reports, claiming it was "fake news," and the indices fell again. However, three days later, Trump indeed suspended the tariffs announced on 2nd April in "Liberation Day."

- Over the last few days, I've been thinking about it. It probably came together early this morning. We didn't have access to lawyers. We wrote it up from our hearts, right? It was written from the heart, and I think it was well written too - said Trump.

Trump announced the suspension of tariffs at a press conference after 1 p.m. According to the official White House meeting calendar, at 2 p.m., Trump participated in an official photo session at the South Portico with motorsport champions. Thirty minutes later, he was signing executive orders in the Oval Office. There, he also spoke with NASCAR representatives, the largest racing organisation in the USA.

The president honoured champion Joey Logano and other Penske Racing team drivers. The racing team is owned by 88-year-old Roger Penske, with a fortune estimated at about $4 (£3.1) billion. The billionaire donated $45,000 (£35,000) to Trump's campaign before the 2020 presidential election, and a year earlier, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom (the highest American civilian honour) from the Republican.

"Also at the event was NASCAR Commissioner Steve Phelps and NASCAR President Steve O'Donnell" - NBC Sports reports.

During the visit, Donald Trump introduced motorsport members, including Charles Schwab, founder of the Charles Schwab Corporation - an American financial services company. Last year, the corporation managed assets worth over $8.5 (£6.6) trillion. Schwab Corporation handled 35 million active brokerage accounts.

- This is Charles Schwab... it’s not just a company, it’s actually an individual. He made $2.5 billion today, and he made $900 million. That’s not bad - added Trump, addressing another man present in the White House. The audience reacted with laughter to Trump's words.

Recent stock market turmoil did not go unnoticed by Democratic Senator Adam Schiff, who demanded answers from the White House and the Office of Government Ethics on "whether anyone in the Trump family or administration profited off of this tariff chaos through insider trading."

On 9th April, even before imposing huge tariffs on China and suspending tariffs on other countries, the U.S. president called for calm regarding stock market fluctuations. "BE COOL! Everything is going to work out well. The USA will be bigger and better than ever before" - wrote Trump on his social media platform Truth Social. This post appeared when the stock market opened on Wall Street. Later, before announcing the decision to suspend tariffs, he wrote: "It's a great time to buy!!!."