Markets rally briefly on Trump tariff pause rumor — plunge after WH cries 'fake news'

Image via Screengrab / CNBC.

Image via Screengrab / CNBC.

David Badash
April 07, 2025Economy

As President Donald Trump’s top billionaire allies and influencers are turning tail and revolting against his “big, beautiful tariffs” that have caused three days of stock market collapses across the globe, top White House economic advisor Kevin Hassett says that when he’s ready, the President will “sign with that big long beautiful signature and he will have made a great deal for America.”

Jamie Dimon, Bill Ackman, and Elon Musk all expressed concerns over the weekend, after U.S. markets crashed.

Call For ’90-Day Time Out’

Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, a longtime Democratic donor who endorsed Trump in 2024 and went on to become a top cheerleader for Trump’s policies, blasted the President over his tariffs that in just two days caused $6.6 trillion in lost wealth in the U.S. alone (and $11 trillion since Inauguration Day.)

In a lengthy social media post, Ackman warned of a pending “self-induced economic nuclear winter” should Trump not reverse course on his oppressive tariffs.

Calling for a “90-day time out,” Ackman accused Trump of “placing massive and disproportionate tariffs on our friends and our enemies alike,” and “launching a global economic war against the whole world at once,” which he says puts the U.S. “in the process of destroying confidence in our country as a trading partner, as a place to do business, and as a market to invest capital.”

“If, on the other hand, on April 9th we launch economic nuclear war on every country in the world, business investment will grind to a halt, consumers will close their wallets and pocket books, and we will severely damage our reputation with the rest of the world that will take years and potentially decades to rehabilitate,” he warned.

And he chastised Trump, warning that the President “is losing the confidence of business leaders around the globe. The consequences for our country and the millions of our citizens who have supported the president — in particular low-income consumers who are already under a huge amount of economic stress — are going to be severely negative. This is not what we voted for.”

Markets Turn Positive Until White House Cries ‘Fake News’

On Monday morning, Trump’s Director of the National Economic Council reportedly said, according to Reuters, that the President is considering a 90-day pause on tariffs.

That caused an immediate spike, with U.S. markets turning positive on the third day of devastating, massive drops.

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But the turnaround lasted only minutes, and the markets plunged again into the negative, as the White House called the possibility of a 90-day pause “fake news,” as CNBC reported.

More Billionaires

Other notable billionaires have also urged Trump to rethink the tariffs.

JPMorgan Chase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon, who was not a Trump supporter but in January announced he supported Trump’s tariffs—saying if there’s some economic hardship people should just “get over it”—now warns that Trump’s tariffs “will likely increase inflation and are causing many to consider a greater probability of a recession.”

“The economy is facing considerable turbulence (including geopolitics), with the potential positives of tax reform and deregulation and the potential negatives of tariffs and ‘trade wars,'” he writes. “The quicker this issue is resolved, the better.”

CNN calls Dimon’s warning “blunt,” and reports that “rarely has Dimon been so blunt about a single US economic policy.”

“We face the most perilous and complicated geopolitical and economic environment since World War II,” he said.

Even top Trump cheerleader, ally, and administration special employee Elon Musk came out in favor of free trade — the opposite of tariffs — and against at least some of Trump’s tariffs.

Calling it “one of the strongest examples yet of the billionaire SpaceX founder’s break with Trump on tariffs, CNBC reported that early on Monday morning, Musk reposted video of the late Nobel-awarded economist Milton Friedman explaining the importance and benefits of free trade.

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Musk “also said [that] he hopes Europe and the U.S. can move ‘to a zero-tariff situation, effectively creating a free-trade zone,’ during a virtual appearance at a meeting of Italy’s far-right League party.”

Also on Monday morning, top Trump economic advisor Kevin Hassett, opened the door to Trump negotiating “deals” on his highly-controversial and, at least so far, highly-destructive tariffs.

‘BIG, LONG, BEAUTIFUL SIGNATURE’

Claiming that 50 countries have approached the White House to negotiate on tariffs, Hassett on Monday morning had told Fox News, “I’ve seen some deals that are great, and President Trump is going to decide if they’re great enough.”

“But again, after after decades and decades of mistreating American workers, it’s going to be tough to get him to decide to really come to the table and sign on the dotted line. But when he does, he’s going to sign with that big, long, beautiful signature, and he’ll have made a great deal for America.”

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