Trump administration accused of ‘market manipulation' with tariff reversal: ‘WTF! Who's in charge?'
Then, minutes after the opening bell on the New York Stock Exchange, Trump announced: 'THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!'
Four hours later, the president reversed course. He paused and lowered tariffs on goods from most nations for 90 days while raising tariffs on imports from China to 125 percent. Markets soared. White House officials — who just one day earlier said Trump would never back off — said 'this was his strategy all along' and 'the art of the deal' at work.
Social media erupted with accusations that the president played a reverse 'pump and dump' scheme with the American economy: driving stock prices down only to buy them up before prices drop again. Democratic Senator Adam Schiff is calling for an investigation into insider trading.
Trump's surprise turn on Wednesday appeared to be news to the administration's own trade representative, who was in the middle of testifying to a House committee, deflecting allegations that the president purposefully manipulated the markets.
'If you came here knowing that … these tariffs were going to be turned off, why didn't you include that in your opening statement? Why didn't you reference that in your testimony?' asked a furious Nevada Democratic Rep. Steven Horsford.
'I don't disclose my conversations with the president, sir,' trade representative Jamieson Greer replied.
'These were specific questions. We asked you all along, 'What's the strategy?'' Horsford said. 'This is amateur hour and it needs to stop … How are you in charge of negotiating if the president is tweeting about this from wherever the hell he is? … Did you know that this was happening? … Is this market manipulation?'
'No,' Greer replied.
'Why not? If it was a plan, if it was always the plan, how is it not market manipulation?' Horsford said.
'It's not market manipulation, sir,' Greer said. 'We're trying to reset the global trade system that has offshored all our factories.'
'How have you achieved any of that?' said Horsford, cutting Greer off. 'Who's benefiting? What billionaire just got richer?'
Horsford noted there were no House Republicans left in the hearing. House Speaker Mike Johnson was 'rushing to the floor to screw America with the biggest tax cut in history, on the backs of the American people.'
'WTF! Who's in charge?' Horsford said. 'Because it sure doesn't look like it's the trade representative. You just got the rug pulled out from under you. I wish I could feel some empathy. But the empathy I have is for the American people, whose very wellbeing and livelihoods are being affected. This is not a game. This is real life.'
On X, the Trump campaign's War Room account asked: 'Did the Panicans listen to @POTUS's advice this morning?'
The post – referencing Trump's made-up word for 'stupid' and 'weak' people who don't support his tariff plan — included a screenshot of the president writing 'THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY' on his Truth Social account.
In a statement, Schiff said Trump 'is creating giant market fluctuations with his on-again, off-again tariffs.'
'These constant gyrations in policy provide dangerous opportunities for insider trading,' he warned. 'Who in the administration knew about Trump's latest tariff flip flop ahead of time? 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.'
The California senator is calling on the White House to answer 'who is cashing in,' he told reporters Wednesday.
'There is all too much opportunity for people in the White House and administration to be into insider trading,' he said. 'They won't be able to hide it for good.'
Trump, meanwhile, appeared outside the White House with a group of car racing champions, celebrating their 'endurance' and gesturing at a bright red and yellow race car parked near the South Lawn.
'I thought that people were jumping a little bit out of line,' Trump said when asked why he reversed course and paused tariffs for 90 days.
'They were getting a little bit yippy, a little bit afraid,' he said. 'It's working out maybe faster than I thought.'
Asked whether people unloading Treasury bonds persuaded him, he said: 'No, I was watching the bond market. The bond market is very tricky. I was watching it, but if you look at it now, it's — it's beautiful. The bond market right now is beautiful. But, yeah, I saw last night where people were getting a little queasy.'
'The big move wasn't what I did today,' he added. 'The big move was what I did on Liberation Day.'
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