‘They were getting yippy’: Trump reveals why he imposed 90-day tariff pause – but hits China harder
9 April 2025, 20:33 | Updated: 10 April 2025, 05:26
Donald Trump has announced a 90-day pause on all tariffs above 10% but targeted China with a staggering 125% rate as the trade war between Washington and Beijing rages on.
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President Trump took to social media on Wednesday night to announce that all countries except China will now only face 10% tariffs - marking a huge change in White House policy.
"They were getting yippy, you know, were getting a little bit yippy, a little bit afraid," he explained to press outside the White House on Wednesday afternoon.
Trump claimed "nothing's over yet", and that they have had a "tremendous amount of spirit from other countries".
He claimed he "had to do it", as China were the "biggest abuser in history".
Stock markets rallied as the news came in that only China would be facing levies higher than 10%.
Sharing a statement on Truth Social, the president said: "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.
"China wants to make a deal, they just don't know how to go about it," he continued.
"[They're] quite the proud people, and President XI is a proud man. I know him very well, and they don't know quite how to go about it, but they'll figure it out.
"They're in the process of figuring out, but they want to make a deal."
Read more: 'BE COOL! Everything is going to work out well' says Trump as China hits back with 84pc tariffs
Lewis Goodall reacts to Donald Trump 'pausing' his global tariffs
Trump said previously: "At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realise that the days of ripping off the U.S.A., and other Countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable.
"Conversely, and based on the fact that more than 75 Countries have called Representatives of the United States, including the Departments of Commerce, Treasury, and the USTR, to negotiate a solution to the subjects being discussed relative to Trade, Trade Barriers, Tariffs, Currency Manipulation, and Non Monetary Tariffs, and that these Countries have not, at my strong suggestion, retaliated in any way, shape, or form against the United States, I have authorised a 90 day PAUSE, and a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%, also effective immediately."
Following this massive U-turn, the UK remains in the same position, facing 10% tariffs on all US imports.
But countries like Israel, Canada and trading blocks like the EU have seen their levies slashed to that base rate of 10%.
Wall Street rallied following Trump's announcement, with the S&P 500, Dow Jones and Nasdaq all soaring.
As of 7pm this evening, the markets had risen by:
- the Dow Jones rose 5.76%
- the S&P 500 rose 6.46%
- the Nasdaq went up 8.04%
"I saw last night where people were getting a little queasy," Trump said on Wednesday afternoon.
He added that he thought the bond market looked "beautiful" today.
Earlier today, Donald Trump urged markets to 'be cool' as the trade war between him and China escalated.
As Wall Street opened on Wednesday with further slides, Mr Trump insisted that "everything is going to work out well", adding that "the USA will be bigger and better than ever before".
It comes after China slapped retaliatory tariffs of 84% on US products.
Beijing announced an import tax of 84% on US goods, an increase of 50% from previous levies.
It followed the United States' decision to slap 104% levies on Chinese imports from today.
As US markets opened, the tech-company-heavy NASDAQ was up 0.72%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) index of 30 major companies listed on US stock exchanges dropped 0.7%.
Markets around the world jittered ahead of the Wednesday morning bell, with the Chinese yuan hovering just above the lowest level seen since 2007 - as Beijing's currency depreciated further.
The US President was seen to declare "I know what the hell I'm doing!" on Tuesday night, making the comments during a defiant speech at the National Republican Congressional Committee dinner in Washington.
He proclaimed: "These countries are calling me up, kissing my ass...they are dying to make a deal... They are, they are dying to make a deal. Please, please, sir, make a deal. I'll do anything."
"I know what the hell I'm doing. I know what I'm doing, and you know what I'm doing too," he said.
"I'm the only one that would have done the tariffs, because everybody was afraid. They were afraid of being criticised."
It comes as Elon Musk branded Trump’s tariff guru, Peter Navarro, "dumber than a sack of bricks" overnight.
Last week saw Trump announce a blanket tariff on China of 34 per cent, as he slapped levies on nearly all countries across the world.
The measures saw fears of a recession grow overnight, with oil prices diving almost 4%.
Those levies included 10% tariffs on the Heard and McDonald islands - a land mass with no human population and inhabited entirely by penguins and seals.
That list also included Australia - a nation that runs a trade surplus with the United States and on paper should not face Trump's heavy levies according to the formula.
It left many commentators questioning the maths behind the Trump administration - and more notably Mr Navarro's - tariffs policy, given criticism of Mr Navarro's economic book 'Death by China' - a publication that is said to have got him the White House job.
Last week Beijing announced 34 per cent retaliatory tariffs and Washington has hit back.
On Tuesday Trump has threatened China with an additional 50% tariff - raising the total tariff to 104%.
Read More: Full list of countries hit by Donald Trump's tariff announcement
Trump has since said he "believes that China wants to make a deal with the US," said Karoline Leavitt, the US president's spokeswoman:
This comes as Elon Musk has branded one of Donald Trump’s top tariff advisers a “moron” as the rift between the president and his billionaire ally deepens.
The Tesla founder, who recently hit out at Trump’s decision to slap tariffs on countries across the globe, slammed Peter Navarro, the president’s senior counsellor for trade, describing him as “dumber than a sack of bricks.”
It comes after Mr Navarro accused the billionaire of running a “car assembler” rather than a manufacturer.
Musk rejected accusations of being against tariffs because he wants to use “cheap foreign parts”, describing them as “demonstrably false”, and declaring Tesla “has the most American-made cars.”
The next stage of Mr Trump's tariff programme comes into force in the early hours of Wednesday, with import taxes at 20% for goods from European Union nations and 24% from Japan.
The UK government is pushing for a deal with the White House in the hope of easing the 10% tariff on US imports of British goods, along with a 25% tariff on cars and separate import taxes for steel and aluminium.
Hitting out at Musk, Mr Navarro told CNBC: “In many cases, if you go to his Texas plant, a good part of the engines that he gets – which in the EV case are the batteries – come from Japan and come from China. The electronics come from Taiwan.
“What we want – and the difference is in our thinking and Elon’s on this – is that we want the tyres made in Akron. We want the transmissions made in Indianapolis. We want the engines made in Flint and Saginaw. And we want the cars manufactured here.”
He added: “We want them home for our national security.”
A furious Elon Musk then took to Twitter, branding Mr Navarro a “moron” and in one post simply calling him “Peter Retarrdo.”
“Tesla has the most American-made cars. Navarro is dumber than a sack of bricks,” Musk fumed.