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President Donald Trump told reporters Wednesday that he reversed course on tariffs because investors were “yippy.”<\/span>AP Pool<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Leading Democrats are<\/span> raising questions about whether insiders profited from the market swing that followed President Donald Trump\u2019s sudden reversal on sweeping tariffs<\/a> he recently announced on imports from foreign countries.<\/p>\n \u201cWho in the administration knew about Trump\u2019s latest tariff flip flop ahead of time?\u201d Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) asked in a Bluesky post<\/a> Wednesday. \u201cDid anyone buy or sell stocks, and profit at the public\u2019s expense? I\u2019m writing to the White House\u2014the public has a right to know.\u201d<\/p>\n On Wednesday, just a week after imposing massive tariffs, or taxes paid by purchasers of foreign goods, in what he called \u201cLiberation Day,\u201d Trump\u2014who for days had claimed he would not budge\u2014abruptly changed course in the face of stock market plunges, warnings of a global recession and a sell-off<\/a> of US Treasury bonds.<\/p>\n \u201cI was watching the bond market,\u201d Trump told reporters. \u201cThe bond market is very tricky.\u201d Investors, he added, \u201cwere getting a little bit yippy, a little bit afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n In a confusingly<\/a> written Truth Social post<\/a>, Trump on Wednesday afternoon announced a 125 percent tariff on Chinese imports, along with a \u201c90 day PAUSE\u201d on other reciprocal tariffs he announced last week\u2014along with a lowered, though still substantial, reciprocal rate of 10 percent. Though Trump might yet reimpose the tariffs, the announcement, widely seen as the president backing down on an economically disastrous policy, sent markets soaring.<\/a><\/p>\n Suspicion about the reversal stemmed in part from earlier posts by Trump. \u201cBE COOL!\u201d he wrote<\/a> Wednesday morning on Truth Social. \u201cEverything is going to work out well. The USA will be bigger and better than ever before!\u201d Minutes later, he added<\/a>: \u201cTHIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT\u201d <\/p>\n DJT is the stock symbol for Trump Media & Technology Group\u2014the parent company of Truth Social\u2014which saw its stock price<\/a> jump in the moments after Trump\u2019s post. Its price continued to rise throughout the day, spiking around the time word came that Trump had folded on at least some of his tariff threats. The company\u2019s share price had been punished over the last week\u2014following a long-term trend for the stock\u2014shaving as much as $500 million off Trump\u2019s net worth, much of which came back today.<\/p>\n If investors took Trump\u2019s post as a signal to buy\u2014either his own stock or the stock market more broadly\u2014they would have done extremely well, achieving returns of more than 20 percent<\/a>.<\/p>\n Schiff and other Democrats noted Wednesday that the market swings created opportunities for corruption. <\/p>\n \u201cThese constant gyrations in policy provide dangerous opportunities for insider trading,\u201d Schiff wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cWas it corruption in plain sight?\u201d Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) asked<\/a> in a floor speech on Wednesday. \u201cWe need an independent investigation into market manipulation because Americans need to know whether President Trump or anyone in his administration manipulated the market to benefit their donors, all while they are working for the American people, and while small businesses and those working families are paying the price.\u201d<\/p>\n The reversal left Republicans who had spent days defending Trump\u2019s tariffs scrambling to offer new justifications for his actions.<\/p>\n On Capitol Hill, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer\u00a0was forced to defend<\/a> a new policy\u2014one he appeared to have had no role in crafting\u2014before irate members of the House Ways and Means committee.<\/p>\n \u201cSo the trade representative hasn\u2019t spoken to the President of the United States about a global reordering of trade, but yet he announced it on a tweet?\u201d Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.) asked<\/a> Greer. \u201cWTF! Who\u2019s in charge and what do you know about those details? It looks like your boss just pulled the rug out from under you and paused the tariffs, the taxes on the American people. There is no strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf it\u2019s not market manipulation, what is it?\u201d Horsford asked. \u201cWho\u2019s benefiting? What billionaire just got richer?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n