Trump pauses tariffs for 90 days for most countries, ups levy on Chinese imports

President Donald Trump on Wednesday paused trade tariffs on most countries for 90 days while in a sign of escalation of trade war with China increased the levy on Chinese imports to 125 percent.

Meanwhile, Beijing has reacted to Trump’s tariffs with an 84 percent levy on U.S. imports into China, an indication that the two countries would not back out on countermeasures.

The decision marked a major turnabout in the wake of worldwide stock slump but Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent rejected it as a factor into the White House decision and instead ascribed the pause to the affected nations’ willingness to negotiate reciprocal tariffs.

Later, Trump told reporters that his decision came as people were getting afraid.

In an X platform post Wednesday afternoon Trump wrote that he paused the tariffs because more than 75 trading partners did not react to his introduction of levies and that they contacted the U.S. to “discuss” the relevant issues.

However, the U.S. president singled out Beijing as not respecting the world markets.

“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.

He also echoed his stance that China should know that it could no longer take advantage of Washington’s policies to its one-sided benefit.

“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.”

The U.S. markets, roiled by the sweeping tariffs over the past few days, responded to the tariff pause with a remarkable recovery on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 scaling more than 9%, Nasdaq gaining more than 12%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average finishing nearly 3,000 points higher.