The concern of the U.S. Treasury about the development of the bond market is one of the key reasons for Trump's decision to delay tariffs.
According to multiple informed sources, before Trump announced the postponement of new tariffs on the 9th, Treasury Secretary Bessent directly expressed concerns about the bond market to Trump during a meeting. Commerce Secretary Lutnick did the same.
Informed sources said that White House economic advisers also reported to Trump about the accelerated selling off in the treasury market. At the same time, business leaders called senior White House officials, increasingly concerned about the deterioration of the bond market, urging Trump to hold back.
Insiders pointed out that when Trump posted about the stock market on his social media “Real Social”, he had not yet decided whether to delay the reciprocal tariffs.
After Trump announced the new decision on tariffs, the White House posted a photo of Trump sitting in the Oval Office, with Bessent and Lutnick standing behind him.
He said when drafting the delay announcement: “We didn’t consult lawyers, we just wrote it directly. We wrote it from the heart.”
That afternoon, Trump admitted that he was closely watching the chaotic situation in the bond market, “The bond market is very complex now, I am watching it, I looked last night, everyone is a bit anxious.”
In fact, not only was the global market surprised by Trump’s sudden change of attitude, but even many members of Trump’s own team seemed to be kept in the dark.
After Trump announced the reciprocal tariff measures on April 2, various parties criticized and demanded withdrawal of the policy, and the global financial market became extremely turbulent. The U.S. treasury market experienced drastic sell-offs, indicating that the economic consequences of the tariff strategy might be more severe than what the White House staff had anticipated.