Days after rattling global markets with the threat of sweeping new tariffs, former President Donald Trump abruptly reversed course—then took a victory lap as Wall Street partially recovered from the chaos he helped create.
In a surprise statement on Tuesday evening, Trump announced he was “temporarily pausing” his plan to impose a 10% universal tariff on all imports, a proposal that had sparked panic among investors, sent the Dow plunging over 1,200 points, and provoked warnings of an impending recession from economists across the political spectrum.
By Thursday morning, as markets bounced back on the news of the tariff retreat, Trump declared himself the savior of the American economy.
“Once again, I got it done,” he posted on Truth Social. “We stopped the bleeding, brought confidence back, and the markets are UP! Biden could never.”
But many analysts say Trump’s victory lap glosses over a key detail: he was the one who caused the selloff in the first place.
“It’s like setting your own house on fire, putting out part of the flames, and then demanding a medal for saving the neighborhood,” said one Wall Street strategist. “He created the crisis, then took credit for defusing it.”
Trump’s sudden reversal came after mounting pressure from Republican donors, top business leaders, and even some of his own allies on Capitol Hill, who warned that his tariff threat risked economic turmoil just months before the election. According to sources familiar with the discussions, several major CEOs personally reached out to Trump’s team, urging a rethink after the stock market’s steep slide and early signs of price spikes in key commodities.
“Markets don’t like uncertainty,” said a senior GOP Senate aide. “And Trump’s tariff rollout was pure chaos—no details, no coordination, just shock and noise. Then when things started to break, he pivoted and called it a win.”
Despite the walk-back, Trump framed the move as a strategic masterstroke, claiming he had merely “tested the waters” to show the world that America “will never be taken advantage of again.”
Trump’s aides are now spinning the episode as evidence of his dealmaking instincts, suggesting the threat alone was enough to bring foreign leaders “back to the table.” But critics see a pattern of chaos-as-strategy—an approach where disruption is engineered only to be dialed down for political gain.
“Markets are tired of being a pawn in Trump’s drama,” said an economist at a leading financial institution. “Investors want stability, not gamesmanship.”
Still, in true Trump fashion, the former president is using the moment to project strength and economic leadership. “Only Trump can shake things up and restore order,” he told a cheering crowd in Ohio Wednesday night. “That’s called leadership. That’s called winning.”
But whether voters—and the markets—are convinced, remains to be seen.