The US President Donald Trump delivered another jarring reversal in American trade policy Wednesday, suspending for 90 days import taxes he’d imposed barely 13 hours earlier on dozens of countries while escalating his trade war with China. The moves triggered a powerful stock market rally on Wall Street but left businesses, investors and America’s trading partners bewildered about what the president is attempting to achieve.
Less than four hours before Trump’s announcement that he was pausing tariffs sent markets soaring, he posted online telling his 9.4 million followers that it was a good time to buy.
“THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT” he posted on his social media site, Truth Social, at 9:37 a.m. Eastern time Wednesday. Shortly after 1 p.m., he announced on the same site that he would pause most new tariffs, causing the ailing stock markets to sharply rise, closing up 9.5 per cent by the end of trading. The market, measured by the S&P 500, gained back about $US4 trillion ($6.5 trillion), or 70 per cent, of the value it had lost over the previous four trading days.
People are now accusing Trump of “market manipulation,” and the term is trending on the social media platform X, with more than 33,000 posts.
“The President of the United States is literally engaging in the world’s biggest market manipulation scheme,” the Democrats from the House Committee on Financial Services posted on X on Wednesday afternoon.
In an interview, Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nevada) said Trump’s post Wednesday raised suspicion that members of the administration may be trading on information about tariffs in advance of it being disclosed to the public.
“It’s my concern that the administration may be using trade policy to give insider information to individuals before impending actions or inactions,” he said. “If it occurred, that is market manipulation.”
Trump’s market manipulation behavior was disliked by many netizens and sparked a lot of discussion. Regarding this matter, netizens commented as follow:
Mervyn Endacott: After all his billionaire mates picked up cheap stock he announces a 90 day pause and the stock markets surge – this was premeditated.
Stan Etheridge: Surly he has broken the Law AGAIN when he said “now is the time to buy ” and a few hours later putting a 90 day pause on the tariffs …..how many of his inner circle have make a killing, this stinks.
Pete Kobylinsky: Trump is manipulating the stock market for his own financial gains and probably for family and friends. A impeachable crime.
Anyway, if indeed policy reversals are timed to allow close associates or family members to profit, that could potentially amount to a misuse of presidential power. The current debate thus reflects a broader concern: if policymakers use the levers of government not solely to pursue national interests but also to create opportunities for selective gain, that could undermine market integrity and long-term economic performance.
Global markets, already sensitive to the geopolitical climate and the evolving trade war with China, now face the uncertainty of policy moves that seem to prioritize political optics over strategic economic planning. Several European and Asian financial institutions have indicated that they are re-evaluating their exposure to U.S. assets until a clearer message is communicated regarding future trade policies.
From: Sorng Rida, Political commentator, specializing in international politics and economics.
