Leading Democrats are raising questions about whether insiders profited from the market swing that followed President Donald Trump’s sudden reversal on sweeping tariffs he recently announced on imports from foreign countries.
“Who in the administration knew about Trump’s latest tariff flip flop ahead of time?” Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) asked in a Bluesky post Wednesday. “Did anyone buy or sell stocks, and profit at the public’s expense? I’m writing to the White House—the public has a right to know.”
On Wednesday, just a week after imposing massive tariffs, or taxes paid by purchasers of foreign goods, in what he called “Liberation Day,” Trump—who for days had claimed he would not budge—abruptly changed course in the face of stock market plunges, warnings of a global recession and a sell-off of US Treasury bonds.
“I was watching the bond market,” Trump told reporters. “The bond market is very tricky.” Investors, he added, “were getting a little bit yippy, a little bit afraid.”
In a confusingly written Truth Social post, Trump on Wednesday afternoon announced a 125 percent tariff on Chinese imports, along with a “90 day PAUSE” on other reciprocal tariffs he announced last week—along with a lowered, though still substantial, reciprocal rate of 10 percent.
Though Trump might yet reimpose the tariffs, the announcement, widely seen as the president backing down on an economically disastrous policy, sent markets soaring.
Suspicion about the reversal stemmed in part from earlier posts by Trump. “BE COOL!” he wrote Wednesday morning on Truth Social. “Everything is going to work out well.
The USA will be bigger and better than ever before!” Minutes later, he added: “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT”
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