Trump Announces Pause on Tariffs For 90-Day Period, Except For China

U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he has temporarily paused, for a 90-day period, most of the reciprocal tariffs on countries that went into effect last week, while increasing the tariffs placed on China to 125%.

On his Truth Social platform, Trump stated that over 75 countries had reached out to the U.S. to reach a deal, and therefore he was pausing the tariffs that he had put in place, lowering them to a flat 10% rate temporarily while countries seek to make deals with the U.S. Governmen.

This comes amid reports earlier this week that Elon Musk, one of Trump's top advisors, was privately cautioning him on the tariffs that he had put into place.

Markets in the U.S. surged on Wednesday following the news of the pause of tariffs, with the Dow Jones surging over 2,800 points, and with the Nasdaq climbing over 11 percent.

With the turnaround of the these tariffs, it is now seeming more likely that the world is bracing for a full scare U.S.-China trade war, as China reciprocated with retaliatory economic measures on Wednesday, raising tariffs on American goods to 84%, which will go into effect Thursday. Additionally, China has banned exports to 12 American companies of 'dual use' items.

Speaking to Fox News, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent claimed that China is now isolated, with its neighbors including Japan, South Korea and Vietnam are now "coming to the table", leaving Beijing alone. This has not yet seem to deter China: the Chinese Commerce Ministry vowed that “China will fight to the end if the US side is bent on going down the wrong path.”