President Donald Trump is facing allegations of market manipulation over the pause in his market-roiling tariff scheme.
Days of steep stock market decline triggered by the large tariffs eased on Wednesday after the White House announced a 90-day pause on the duties. It's likely that some traders were betting on a rebound, thanks to the president’s earlier suggestion on Truth Social that it was “A GREAT TIME TO BUY.”
In a Thursday letter, Senators Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., demanded “an urgent inquiry into whether President Trump, his family, or other members of the administration engaged in insider trading or other illegal financial transactions” based on non-public knowledge of the pause.
New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took a similar stance, urging transparency for traders in Congress who may have made a handsome sum on advance knowledge.
“Any member of Congress who purchased stocks in the last 48 hours should probably disclose that now,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a late Wednesday post to X. “Disclosure deadline is May 15th. We’re about to learn a few things. It’s time to ban insider trading in Congress.”
Trump brushed off those allegations in a Cabinet meeting on Thursday, refusing to answer a reporter's question as the press was ushered out.
Trump claimed he made the decision because financial big-wigs and other Americans “were getting a little bit yippy, a little bit afraid,” though White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed the pause was part of a more deliberate strategy.
