On April 2, 2025, Donald Trump declared that it is “Liberation Day,” in America due to his imposition of punitive tariffs on most of the world that were widely predicted to result in inflation, recession, and unprecedented deliberate harm to the American people and American businesses.
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Immediately after Trump’s announcement, the stock market went into free fall, wiping out about $6 trillion in assets and depleting the savings of millions of investors and private citizens, especially seniors who would need those funds as they prepare for retirement. But not to worry, as Fox News warned their glassy-eyed viewers to clam up, because any criticism of Dear Leader and his disastrous economic policies were unpatriotic.
SEE THIS: Fox News to Retirees: STFU About the Huge Losses Due to Tariffs, Because It’s Just Like Wartime
On Wednesday morning Trump did what he swore he would never do: Reverse course and rescind his tariffs. Despite the fact that he adamantly objected to any reports that he was considering to pause his plans, he has now paused his plans for 90 days. And he got absolutely nothing in return for doing so. He posted a rambling comment on his failing Twitter ripoff, Truth Social that said “I have authorized a 90 day PAUSE, and a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period.”
However, there is another decidedly troubling component to this situation. At 6:37am ET, Trump posted a comment saying that “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!” Then a few hours later he caved on his tariffs that he previously insisted were “here to stay.” So by announcing that it was a great time to buy, when he knew that he would shortly be pausing the tariffs, was he in violation of stock manipulation and/or insider trading laws?
CRIMINAL STOCK MANIPULATION AND INSIDER TRADING?Trump posted a message saying that "THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!" Then a few hours later caved on his tariffs that he previously insisted were "here to stay."Why isn't he in prison? #TrumpRecession
— News Corpse (@newscorpse.bsky.social) 2025-04-09T18:18:57.742Z
Trump cannot pretend that his buying advice was unrelated to to his tariff pause, or that he didn’t know about it at the time. His Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, had already tweeted that he and Trump discussed it on the previous Sunday. Bessent wrote that…
“Trump and I had a long talk on Sunday and this was his strategy all along. You might even say that he goaded China into a bad position.”
Clearly Trump knew that he intended to pause his tariffs days before he did so. And he knew how that would affect the market, because on Tuesday a rumor to that effect caused the market to take a sharp upward spike briefly, until the White House shot it down. Also, note that Bessent’s comment included his opinion that Trump never intended to resolve the trade issue with China. Instead, he was hoping to inflame it by “goad[ing] China into a bad position.” How is that in the best interests of the U.S. or the American people?
Furthermore, since Trump’s pause did not include America’s biggest trading partner, China, on whom he actually increased tariffs to 125%, the detrimental impact of the tariffs would remain in tact. What’s more, there are no details of how other countries would be impacted by the pause, or which ones were included. Since Europe, Canada, Mexico, and other countries with significant trading volume did not capitulate to Trump, it would be fair to assume that they were not included in the pause.
Consequently, this pause would have little effect. Pausing the tariffs on tiny nation-states like Lesotho, and an island inhabited only by penguins, isn’t likely to increase America’s trade prospects. However, the advance notice that Trump gave to his MAGA minions could reap them substantial profits. And perhaps for himself as well, since Trump has his own investment portfolio that will likely rise due to his potentially unlawful machinations. Imagine if President Biden had done this. Republicans would be reassembling the guillotine they built on January 6, 2021.
UPDATE: Democratic senators call for probe into possible insider trading over Trump tariff reversal
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- UH-OH: Fox News Trump-Fluffer Admits that Trump’s Tariffs Will Fuel Higher Prices and Recession
- TRUST IN TRUMP? That’s the Only Solution Offered By the Trump Cult to Counter His Disastrous Tariffs
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