President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he was pausing his tariffs for nations that did not retaliate and levying additional tariffs for China, which triggered a stock market rally as well as backlash from some conservatives who were unsettled by the president’s trade moves.
“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 on Truth Social. “At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realize that the days of ripping off the U.S.A., and other Countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable.”
“Conversely, and based on the fact that more than 75 Countries have called Representatives of the United States, including the Departments of Commerce, Treasury, and the USTR, to negotiate a solution to the subjects being discussed relative to Trade, Trade Barriers, Tariffs, Currency Manipulation, and Non Monetary Tariffs, and that these Countries have not, at my strong suggestion, retaliated in any way, shape, or form against the United States, I have authorized a 90-day PAUSE, and a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%, also effective immediately,” Trump added.
Last week, Trump held a Rose Garden press conference to announce sweeping tariffs on virtually all imported goods, causing panic on Wall Street and throughout global financial markets and testing the loyalty of Republicans critical of his strategy.
News of the pause on tariffs led a number of conservative commentators to express a combination of relief and irritation on social platform X on Wednesday afternoon.
Responding to a post by National Review Editor Charles C.W. Cooke, which called on Congress to reassert its authority on tariffs, New York Times columnist David French wrote, “Exactly. That which Trump arbitrarily revokes, he can arbitrarily invoke tomorrow.”
“This is all so stupid,” Cato Institute Vice President Scott Lincicome said.
Conservative columnist Matt Lewis compared Trump’s pausing of tariffs to discarding a piece of gym equipment after the first use.
“Trump’s loyalists kept telling us, ‘no pain, no gain.’ Now, the whole thing looks more like a guy who buys a BowFlex, uses it once and then spends the next six months draping laundry over it,” Lewis wrote.
And conservative X user AG asked, “Wouldn’t it have been easier and saved a lot of blowback to just do this in the first place?”
“This still isn’t great for stability, but at least it provides an opportunity to actually lower trade barriers instead of going to war with everyone,” AG said. “I hope people at least recognize how absurd the influencers who were attacking anyone who criticized the previous strategy or recognized the harm look now.”
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