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

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

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.”

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.”

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.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday to review the rules governing exports of military equipment, aiming to facilitate U.S. defense firms in selling their products abroad.

“We’re unable to provide weapons systems in a reliable, effective way to key allies of ours, and the key driver of that is inefficiencies and inconsistencies with the process by which we approve foreign military sales,” White House aide Will Scharf said at the signing ceremony in the Oval Office.

“So this executive order is going to direct your Department of Defense, Department of State, other relevant departments and agencies, to rework our system of foreign defense sales to ensure that we can provide equipment creating American jobs and providing obviously revenue to American defense manufacturers, but provide key military equipment to our key allies in a reliable, effective way,” he said.

Reuters reported on April 1 that Trump was planning to issue an order that would relax rules governing the export of military equipment, similar to legislation proposed by Michael Waltz, his national security adviser, last year when he served as a Republican member of the House of Representatives.

The order could increase sales for big U.S. defense contractors like Lockheed Martin, RTX, and Boeing.

Currently, the U.S. Arms Export Control Act grants Congress the authority to review arms exports to other countries based on their status as close allies and the size of the proposed sale.

Stock markets surged after President Donald Trump announced a pause on most of his sweeping tariffs, with both the Dow Jones and the NASDAQ breaking records for the largest point gains in a single day.

The stock markets closed with massive gains after Trump announced the change in his tariff plan. At close, the Dow soared 2,962 points, while the NASDAQ surged 1,857 points, marking the largest single-day point gains for both indices. The S&P 500 also closed up 9.5 percent for one of its best days since 2008.

Mike Bedigan and Kelly Rissman tracked the markets today.

The Department of Justice on Wednesday asked a federal court to withdraw its case against a Virginia man that top officials like Attorney General Pam Bondi claimed was a senior “terrorist” within the ranks of the Salvadoran gang MS-13, less than two weeks after the man’s arrest.

Josh Marcus explains what’s going on.

Olivia Troye, former White House Homeland Security and Counter Terrorism Adviser in the first Trump administration, has spoken out after Donald Trump ordered his Justice Department to investigate to of his political enemies.

Troye wrote on X: “This is incredibly disturbing. I warned Trump would do this & that he would falsely try & claim ‘treason.’ He’s issuing Executive Orders targeting Chris Krebs and Miles Taylor—two Republican officials who served in his first admin. Ordering the DOJ to investigate them—for what? For telling the truth? This isn’t justice. It’s retribution. This is authoritarianism plain & simple.”

A Delaware judge ruled Wednesday that the conservative news outlet Newsmax Media defamed Dominion Voting Systems through its false reporting, which accused the voting machine company of rigging the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

Dominion is seeking $1.6 billion in damages to be determined by a Delaware jury in a trial scheduled to begin on April 28 in Wilmington, said Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis.

The Denver-based company sued Newsmax in 2021 for airing false claims that Dominion machines had stolen the election from President Donald Trump, who was defeated by President Joe Biden.

Talking about the possibility of market manipulation or insider trading off the back of Donald Trump’s tariffs reversal today, Senator Bernie Sanders said: “Would I be surprised if there are were people who, hours before, knew exactly what Trump was going to do in rescinding his tariff proposals, understanding that the stock market would soar and you make huge amounts of money… No, I would not.”