On April 19, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick persuaded Trump to suspend the radical global tariff plan on April 9 while senior White House trade adviser Peter Navarro was absent.

According to several people familiar with the matter, when Navarro met with White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett as planned in other areas that morning, Becent and Lutnik seized the gap and rushed to the presidential office. While Navarro could not refute it on the spot, he proposed to Trump to suspend some tariffs. Under the persuasion of the two, Trump agreed to suspend some tariffs and immediately announced them to stabilize the market. They even waited until Trump finished posting on Truth Social before leaving, a person familiar with the matter said, and the decision caught Navarro off guard.

Trump's post made the stock market surge, and the Treasury bond market stabilized. On the same day, he explained that the decision was made because he noticed "abnormal fluctuations" in the financial market, especially the early warning signals of the bond market. But just a few hours ago, he posted a message on Truth Social to "stay calm" and suggested that the original policy might be maintained.

Note: Peter Navarro is a senior trade adviser at the White House and a professor of economics at the University of California. Navarro was favored by Trump for his trade views and served as director of the National Trade Commission during Trump's previous term. He was imprisoned for four months in 2024 for contempt of Congress, when Trump told others that "Navarro was imprisoned for me." On April 6 this year, Navarro said in an interview with Fox that "if the stock is not sold, you won't lose money", which once sparked heated discussion in the market.