US president Donald Trump announced on social media platform Truth Social that he will pause the enforcement of country-specific reciprocal tariffs set April 2 for 90 days, setting individual tariff fees at a minimum level of 10 percent. The pause, Trump said, will allow up to 75 countries that have appealed to the Unites States, more time to negotiate their tariff rates.
At the same time, Trump raised the so-called “stacked tariffs” on China to a combined 125 percent, following China’s announcement and subsequent failure to lift it own retaliatory tariffs it decided to levy against the US, Trump said.
“I have authorized a 90 day PAUSE, and a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10 percent, also effective immediately,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent later clarified in a report carried on CNBC that all countries except China would go back to the 10% baseline tariff rate as negotiations take place.
“I think now the market understands that everything they saw last Wednesday (April 2) was a ceiling, and now we have a 10% temporary floor,” Bessent said.
As SteelOrbis previously reported prior to the announcement, a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Commerce stated that, today, April 9, China has filed a complaint under the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) dispute settlement mechanism against the US latest tariff increases. The spokesperson said that the US tariff measures seriously violate the rules of the WTO and that the additional US 50 percent tariffs imposed this time are a compounding error, highlighting the unilateral and bullying nature of the US measures. China will firmly defend its legitimate rights and interests in accordance with the rules of the WTO and resolutely safeguard the multilateral trading system and the international economic and trade order, the official stated.
Since the tariffs were announced last week on April 2, the Dow Industrial Average has lost more than 4,500 points, while the S&P 500 sustained a 12 percent decline. The NASDAQ Composite also suffered a 13 percent decline. Following today’s announcements, the Dow Jones Industrial average was up 6.95 percent on the day, the S&P 500 was up 8.5 percent, while the NASDAQ Composite climbed 10.35 percent.
