Trump accused of ‘market manipulation’ after abrupt U-turn on reciprocal tariffs: Live updates

Trump accused of ‘market manipulation’ after abrupt U-turn on reciprocal tariffs: Live updates
White House Press Secretary makes bold claim 90-day pause was always Donald Trump’s plan

Donald Trump urged the world to “be cool” on Wednesday as his sweeping import taxes took effect, crashing global markets and sending shockwaves through the U.S. economy.

Minutes after trading began on Wall Street, he declared: “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!”

But hours later, the president performed an extraordinary U-turn, pausing and reducing tariffs on most nations for 90 days while increasing levies on imports from China to 125 percent.

Markets surged. White House officials – who just one day earlier said Trump would never back down – claimed “this was his strategy all along” and “the art of the deal” at work.

Social media exploded with accusations that the president had orchestrated a reverse “pump and dump” scheme: driving stock prices down only to buy them up before they rose again.

Democratic Senator Adam Schiff is already calling for an investigation into market manipulation or insider trading.

Asked by a reporter about when he arrived at the decision to pause the tariffs, Trump gave a muddled answer.

“For a period of time,” he said initially, before continuing: “I would say this morning. Over the last few days, I’ve been thinking about it. Fairly early this morning.”

House Republicans scuttle MAGA budget vote after Mike Johnson fails to win over holdouts

Mike Johnson backed down on Wednesday and canceled plans to vote on a Republican budget resolution acting as the vessel for major parts of Donald Trump’s agenda.

The Republican speaker of the House set up votes Wednesday on a budget resolution authored by his peers in the Senate as the GOP moves on to the next step of the reconciliation process. But Johnson, who can suffer just three defections among his caucus for the vote to succeed, is still facing (according to various reports) more than a dozen likely or potential “no” votes from Republicans if the vote goes ahead.

John Bowden has the latest from Washington, D.C.

Oliver O’Connell10 April 2025 07:45

Kash Patel replaced as interim head of the ATF

The Trump administration has abruptly replaced FBI Director Kash Patel as acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll has been named interim head of ATF while continuing to lead the Army, a person familiar with the matter told The Independent.

Ariana Baio has the details.

Oliver O’Connell10 April 2025 06:45

Gabbard sets up DOGE-style team to weed out ‘weaponization’ in national intelligence

U.S. National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard has reportedly set up her own DOGE-like group to cut costs and investigate “weaponization” in the 18 agencies under her authority, according to a new report.

Gabbard’s Director’s Initiatives Group was established in adherence to an executive order signed by President Donald Trump to “bring about transparency and accountability” in the U.S.’s intelligence agencies, according to a press release from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which was released on Tuesday.

Graig Graziosi reports.

Oliver O’Connell10 April 2025 05:45

Trump’s tariff pause won’t help these small businesses that are already hurting

Richard Hall writes:

A tattoo equipment supplier in Pennsylvania is worried they won’t make it to summer. A three-person team making optical scanners in San Diego saw their bills double overnight. A coffee shop in New Orleans may be forced to raise its prices.

Read on…

Oliver O’Connell10 April 2025 05:00

Watch: Sen. Chris Murphy says an ‘insider trading scandal is brewing’

Oliver O’Connell10 April 2025 04:43

House votes to overturn Biden-era rule limiting bank overdraft fees to $5

The House of Representatives voted Wednesday to overturn a rule that would have limited bank overdraft fees to $5, following the Senate in moving to dismantle the regulation that the Biden administration estimated would save consumers billions of dollars.

The resolution killing the rule, which passed the House 217-211, will now head to the White House for President Donald Trump’s signature.

Republicans argued that the “disastrous” regulation issued in the final days of President Joe Biden’s term would have forced banks to stop offering overdraft protection altogether and made it harder for Americans to access credit.

Democrats strongly opposed the effort and said the rule would help consumers who can’t afford the fees.

AP10 April 2025 04:30

Asian market surge after Trump tariffs pause

Asian shares surged in early trading on Thursday, with Japan’s benchmark jumping more than 2,000 points almost immediately after the Tokyo exchange opened, as relieved investors welcomed President Donald Trump’s U-turn on his tariff proposal.

Analysts had expected the regional comeback given that U.S. stocks had one of their best days in history Wednesday on a euphoric Wall Street, where investor hopes had run high that Trump would pause implementation of tariffs above 10 percent for 90 days to allow for negotiations.

The exception was China, which will now be hit with import taxes of 125 percent on goods shipped to the U.S.

On Thursday, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 jumped 8.3% in morning trading to 34,353.17, zooming upward as soon as trading began. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 soared 4.7% to 7,722.90. South Korea’s Kospi gained 5.5% to 2,419.37. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 3.7% to 21,003.84. The Shanghai Composite edged up 1.5% to 3,232.86.

With reporting from the AP

Oliver O’Connell10 April 2025 04:10

Fox Business reporter says it’s the ‘White House who capitulated’ on tariffs

While MAGA world treated Donald Trump’s sudden about-face on his “Liberation Day” tariffs as a masterful gambit and proof of the president’s “Art of the Deal” prowess, Fox Business correspondent Charles Gasparino injected a dose of reality on Wednesday.

“Let’s be clear,” Gasparino noted just moments after the 90-day pause on most of the president’s so-called “reciprocal” tariffs was announced. “It is the White House who capitulated.”

Justin Baragona reports.

Oliver O’Connell10 April 2025 04:00

AOC suggests members of Congress might want to disclose new stock purchases

New York Democratic Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has some advice for her fellow members of Congress: disclose your recent stock purchases now.

She wrote on X: “Any member of Congress who purchased stocks in the last 48 hours should probably disclose that now.

“I’ve been hearing some interesting chatter on the floor.

“Disclosure deadline is May 15th. We’re about to learn a few things.”

She added: “It’s time to ban insider trading in Congress.”

Oliver O’Connell10 April 2025 03:46

As Trump pauses tariffs, U.K. will continue trade negotiations ‘coolly and calmly’

Downing Street said that the UK will “coolly and calmly” continue its negotiations after Donald Trump announced a 90-day tariff pause for most nations.

The US president said he would be delaying tariffs on most nations for 90 days while raising his tax rate on Chinese imports to 125%.

The precise details were not immediately clear, but the US treasury secretary has said Mr Trump will keep his 10% baseline tariffs on most countries.

It is understood that this does not mean any immediate change for the UK.

Continue reading…

Oliver O’Connell10 April 2025 03:30

Source: independent.co.uk