President Trump's decision to lift hefty tariffs on most U.S. trading partners with a 90-day pause even while keeping in place a 125 percent on China is a significant reversal from his previous stance that relieved Republicans and led stock markets to spike.

The Dow Jones, rocked since Thursday morning by Trump's tariff announcement, rose 2,962 points or 7.87 percent on Wednesday -- a shot of relief at Trump's pause heard around the country.

The Nasdaq closed with a gain of 12.1 percent and the S&P 500 index ended the day 9.5 percent higher

Though huge tariffs remain on China, one of the largest exporters to the United States, markets saw the pause on most of the tariffs on other countries as reason for hope after several cloudy days.

Trump acknowledged the markets played into his decision.

Asked why he decided to implement the pause, Trump replied, “I thought that people were jumping a little out line,” adding that people were getting “a little bit yippy, a little bit afraid.”

The president said he was watching the bond market in particular, seemingly referring to a steep drop in demand for U.S. Treasuries — long considered to be safe havens during financial chaos — and a steep increase in interest rates.

“The bond market is very tricky, I was watching it. But if you look at it now it’s beautiful,” Trump said. “I saw last night where people were getting a little queasy.”

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters that the 90-day pause is a result of countries wanting to negotiate a deal with the Trump administration to drop their tariffs, as well as a result of China escalating the trade war.

“Because of a large number........

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