President Donald Trump says he is pausing his tariffs scheme for 90 days on 75 trading partners who have not retaliated against his administration’s tariff regime that accelerated after midnight Wednesday.
In a post on X just before 1:30 p.m., Trump wrote the move was based on the fact that these countries had called in to “discuss” the issues Trump had raised regarding their alleged trade barriers with the U.S.
A 10% duty across-the-board duty will remain in place for these countries, Trump added.
However, Trump said duties against China would now climb to a total of 125%, effective immediately.
“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,” he wrote. “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.”
It was not clear which countries would be covered by the pause; earlier Wednesday the E.U. voted to impose fresh retaliatory duties, but those aren’t set to take effect until next week.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who has played a prominent role in helping Trump craft his tariffs message, posted to X that he sat with Trump as he posted the initial message, adding: “The world is ready to work with President Trump to fix global trade, and China has chosen the opposite direction.”
Markets soared on the news, with the S&P 500 climbing more than 7%, the tech-heavy Nasdaq up 9%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average up nearly 7%, or more than 2,000 points.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
