Lawmakers now want answers about whether the sudden tariff policy U-turn involved insider trading or market manipulation.
The past week will be remembered as one of the most turbulent in recent history.
It was not triggered by a structural event like the 2008 global financial crisis or the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. This time, the cause was the president of the world’s most powerful nation – and what he has previously described as “the most beautiful word in the dictionary”: tariffs.
I joined Truth Social soon after it launched and have followed his posts closely since.
On Wednesday morning, I saw his message: “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT.” I found it odd – but Trump is a strange man, and I didn’t think too much about it.
That was until a few hours later when he announced a 90-day pause on implementing draconian tariffs for all countries except China.
“DJT” is not only the president’s initials but also the stock ticker of Trump Media & Technology, the company behind Truth Social. Its share price jumped by 22% following the announcement.
The broader market responded just as sharply. The S&P 500 surged more than 9% by the close, and the Nasdaq rose over 12%.
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Suspicious timing
The timing of the tariff pause – just hours after the social media post – has drawn wider scrutiny, particularly as senior officials within the administration gave conflicting accounts of when the decision was made.
According to multiple reports, the president decided on Wednesday morning, citing activity in the bond market as one of the triggers. In a press conference, he was asked whether the bond selloff influenced him. He replied: “The bond market is very tricky. I was watching it. The bond market right now is beautiful. But yeah, I saw last night where people were getting a little queasy.”
In response to another question, about how long he had been considering a pause, he said: “For a period of time. I would say this morning. Over the last few days.”
He later elaborated: “We didn’t have access to lawyers or … it was just wrote up [sic]. We wrote it up from our hearts, right.”
Howard Lutnick, Secretary of Commerce, confirmed on X that he was with the president when the tariff pause post was written and published on Truth Social.
This contradicts comments made by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who told Bloomberg the decision had already been taken on the previous Sunday – and had nothing to do with the markets. “This was driven by the president’s strategy. He and I had a long talk on Sunday, and this was his strategy all along.”
The precise timeline of the decision may remain unclear, and there are conflicting reports. Still, it is evident that the announcement was made at extremely short notice, with very few people aware of it beforehand.
That suggests no formal financial models or impact assessments were prepared for a policy shift affecting virtually every major global economy, including the US itself.
Readers have often accused me of being “anti-Trump”, but even his staunchest defenders must acknowledge that this is not how decisions on tariffs should be made by the most powerful office in the world.
ALSO READ: Trump’s tariffs make no economic sense — economists
Market manipulation or insider trading?
Some lawmakers in the United States have now formally called for an independent investigation to determine whether the president’s actions constituted market manipulation or involved insider trading.
Remember the now-infamous SMS sent by Markus Jooste, the late former CEO of Steinhoff, to four of his friends, which was later found to be insider information: “You always ask my opinion. It will take Steinhoff a long time to work through all the bad news and America. So there are better places to invest your money. Take the current price immediately.”
How is that fundamentally different from Trump’s Truth Social post?
These are the actions of the most powerful political figure on the planet. The coming weeks – leading up to the end of the 90-day grace period – are likely to be as unpredictable as the announcement that sparked this extraordinary sequence of events.
Keep your gum guard in and hold on with both hands!
This article was republished from Moneyweb. Read the original here.
