Stocks tumble as White House says report on 90-day pause to tariffs is “fake news”
Stocks ripped higher, with the S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and Russell 2000 briefly erasing massive losses to break into positive territory, before turning negative.
The catalyst? The idea that President Trump was thinking about blinking. That’s from this headline, based on a Fox News interview with National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett.
HASSETT: TRUMP IS CONSIDERING A 90-DAY PAUSE IN TARIFFS FOR ALL COUNTRIES EXCEPT CHINA
The problem is, when you listen to the clip... it’s not clear that this is what was said.
KILMEADE: Would Trump consider a 90 days pause in tariffs?
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 7, 2025
HASSETT: I think the president is gonna decide what the president is gonna decide ... even if you think there will be some negative effect from the trade side, that's still a small share of GDP pic.twitter.com/3KymvgOwQG
CNBC is now saying that the White House is calling this report “fake news.”
A 90-day pause to tariffs to give time to negotiate with other countries is something that was floated by none other than Pershing Square CEO Bill Ackman in his wild flurry of tweets this weekend.
Update: an earlier version of this piece attributed a headline to Bloomberg. That headline, from Walter Bloomberg on X, was sourced from Reuters.
