President Donald Trump denied that bond market volatility influenced his decision to implement a 90-day tariff pause on U.S. trading partners, despite significant yield fluctuations that saw the 10-year Treasury yield swing from 3.59% to 4.81% over the past year.
What Happened: “The bond market was getting the yips, but I wasn’t,” Trump told Time magazine, dismissing speculation that financial market stress prompted the policy reversal. “I know what we have.”
The bond market experienced one of its largest short-term moves in recent history during early April, with the 10-year Treasury yield dropping below 4% around April 4 before surging past 4.5% by April 11. Yields move inversely to prices, and higher yields translate to increased borrowing costs affecting mortgages, personal loans, and auto financing.
Market experts had attributed Trump’s tariff pause to the bond market turbulence. Ed Yardeni of Yardeni Research described the situation as “bond vigilantes hit another homerun,” referencing investors who protest inflationary policies by selling bonds to drive yields higher.
Economist Craig Shapiro suggested China’s threats to sell U.S. Treasuries “basically blew up the bond market and forced the administration to backtrack,” while Gary Black of The Future Fund LLC pointed to “chaos in the bond market” as a key factor in the “stunning about face on tariffs.”
Why It Matters: The market reaction to Trump’s initial tariff announcement was severe, pushing the Nasdaq into bear market territory while the S&P 500 and Dow Jones approached similar declines. When Trump announced the pause via Truth Social, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY surged 10.50% and the Invesco QQQ Trust ETF QQQ jumped 12.00%.
Trump’s comments about Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, whom he called “Mr. Too Late” for not cutting interest rates, likely contributed to market volatility, though Trump has since indicated he doesn’t plan to remove Powell from his position.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent claimed the tariff pause was part of Trump’s strategy from the beginning, stating, “He and I had a long talk. This was his strategy all along.”
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
