It is more probable that Trump reacted to what was going on in the bond market. The money quote from Trump: “I was watching the bond market. The bond market is very tricky. I was watching it. But if you look at it now, it’s… it’s beautiful,” he said. “But, yeah, I saw last night where people were getting a little queasy.” From RT at swentr.site:
The New York Stock Exchange, April 9, 2025. © AP / Seth Wenig
President Donald Trump has admitted that his decision to delay further tariff hikes was driven in part by a sharp downturn in the US financial markets, saying he was closely monitoring investor sentiment as people grew too “yippy” and “afraid” before announcing a 90-day freeze.
On Wednesday morning, Trump urged Americans to “be cool” and told investors that “this is a great time to buy,” after US markets lost more than $1.5 trillion in capitalization the day before. The sell-off came ahead of the implementation of a 104% tariff on Chinese imports and sweeping tariffs on dozens of other countries.
Just hours later, the president announced his decision to keep most tariffs at a “baseline” 10% – except for China, which saw its rate raised even further to 125%. Speaking to reporters later that day, Trump said he had been tracking the markets closely before taking action.
“I was watching the bond market. The bond market is very tricky. I was watching it. But if you look at it now, it’s… it’s beautiful,” he said. “But, yeah, I saw last night where people were getting a little queasy.”
