Trump maintains that bond market instability had no impact on tariff delay: ‘I had no concerns’
US President Donald Trump speaks during a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister of Norway Jonas Gahr Store in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on April 24, 2025. Saul Loeb | Afp | Getty Images President Donald Trump denied that a strong bond market sell-off influenced his decision earlier this month to hold off on aggressive “reciprocal” tariffs against U.S. trading partners. “I wasn’t worried,” Trump said in an interview during which he was asked about financial market tumult after his April 2 “Liberation Day” announcement.
In the decree, Trump imposed 10% across-the-board duties against all U.S. imports and released a list of tariffs against dozens of other nations. The additional levies were based on trade deficits the U.S. had with the respective countries and raised concerns about inflation, a potential recession, and disruption of long-held trade agreements. Markets reacted negatively following the release. Treasury yields initially declined but quickly bounced back. The 10-year yield rose half a percentage point in just a few days, marking one of its swiftest movements, as investors also moved away from stocks and the U.S. dollar.
Ultimately, Trump issued a 90-day stay on the reciprocal tariffs to allow time for negotiation. However, he stated it was not due to the market turmoil. “No, it wasn’t for that reason,” Trump explained in the interview. “I’m doing that until we come up with the numbers that I want to come up with. I’ve met with a lot of countries. I’ve talked on the telephone. I don’t even want them to come in.”
Yields have since declined, with the 10-year recently around 4.28%, about a quarter percentage point above its recent low. Trump had indicated that when he made the decision to hold off, the bond market was experiencing volatility. “The bond market was getting the yips, but I wasn’t. Because I know what we have,” he said. “I know what we have, but I also know we won’t have it for long if we allowed four more years of gross incompetence. This thing was just running — it was running as a free spirit. This was — this was the most incompetent president in history.”
Though negotiations over tariffs are ongoing, Trump added that he would consider it a “total victory” even if the U.S. had levies as high as 50% still in place a year from now.
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