From ‘be cool’ to ‘getting yippy’: Trump’s tariffs U-turn over the course of a daypublished at 07:23 British Summer Time
Adam Goldsmith
Live reporter
A few hours ago, Donald Trump told
his followers on Truth Social that yesterday had been a “great
day”.
Looking back at the president’s social media feed, we can
see how it all panned out from the president’s thumbs:
At the start of the day and with big tariffs on
many countries taking effect, Trump urged that now is a “GREAT
time to move your COMPANY into the United States of America”, and promised
“ZERO TARIFFS” as well as “no environmental delays” for
those who took up the offer.
Then, as US stock markets opened – and
showed signs of falling again – the president’s message was one of reassurance.
“BE COOL! Everything is going to work out well”, he said.
Trump then used social media to announce a raise in tariffs
on China to 125%. He said this was “effective immediately” and
because of a “lack of respect” shown by the Asian country to
“the World’s Markets”.
But he also used the same post to authorise a 90 day
pause and a lower tariff rate of 10% for other countries that had been
targeted at the start of the day.
“These Countries have not, at my strong suggestion,
retaliated in any way, shape, or form against the United States,” he
explained.
Later, speaking to reporters outside the White House,
Trump suggested that he had used tariffs after countries “had been getting
a little bit yippy”.
‘They were getting yippy’, Trump says on 90-day tariffs pause