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Trump’s sudden 90-day tariff pause which caused stock index gains has prompted concerns about insider trading. Trump pauses tariffs globally, surged tariffs on China to 125 percent United States President Donald Trump on Wednesday paused steep tariffs on the US’s trading partners barring China, instead imposing a blanket 10 percent tariff on goods imported from these nations and territories. The 90-day pause came within 24 hours of the duties taking effect. The pausing of most additional tariffs, which had roiled the stock market, sent US major stock indices soaring to one of their biggest single-day gains since World War II, even though they remain nearly 11 percent below their February 19 peak under Trump. Three hours before he announced the pause, Trump encouraged investors to buy stock. In the aftermath, Democrats have accused Trump of market manipulation, using his announcements to first crash stocks before creating a short window when those who bought shares would gain dramatically. Trump’s allies have denied the charge, but his critics are now calling for Congress to investigate him. So what happened, could the market whiplash have benefitted investors who listened to Trump, and why has this angered some Democrats? Trump announced the three-month reprieve from the tariffs on Wednesday, amid negotiations with more than 75 countries to reduce the levies on their goods, he said. The US president said all the countries that had not retaliated against his tariffs would only face a 10 percent blanket tariff until July. He suggested his pause was strategic – to reward those countries that agreed to work towards a deal with him. “I thought that people were jumping a little bit out of line, they were getting yippy, you know,” Trump explained when asked why he announced the pause while speaking to reporters. Trump announced these tariffs on April 2, ranging from 12 percent to 50 percent, on about 60 trading partners that he claimed were guilty of imposing disproportionately high levies on US imports. These tariffs took effect on Tuesday. Additionally, Trump had announced – also on April 2 – a flat 10 percent tariff on products coming from almost all other trading partners of the US. These tariffs came into force on April 5. The tariff pause does not apply to China. On April 2, which Trump dubbed “Liberation Day”, China was hit with a 34 percent tariff on top of an existing 20 percent tariff. This set off a sequence of tit-for-tat actions by China and the US, each raising tariffs on the other. China has, as of now, imposed an 84 percent tariff on US products. Trump, meanwhile, has increased the levy on Chinese goods to 125 percent. In the week that followed the announcement, the US’s three major stock indices – the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq – dropped by more than 5 percent. This was the biggest stock market decline in the US since 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The US Treasury bond market came under selling pressure. The 10-year benchmark government bond yield, which moves inversely to its price, fell after Trump announced the tariffs. On Thursday, the Treasury yields started to drop. No. The tariff pause does not apply to China. On the April 2 “Liberation Day”, China was hit with a 34 percent tariff on top of an existing 20 percent tariff. This set off a sequence of tit-for-tat actions by China and the US, each raising tariffs on the other. China has, as of now, imposed an 84 percent tariff on US products. Trump, meanwhile, has increased the levy on Chinese goods to 125 percent. All other countries and territories – including those which the US has a trade surplus with, or a free trade agreement with – have still been hit with a 10 percent tariff rate. Quite the opposite. Before announcing the pause, Trump and his close aides had repeatedly held that the tariffs would not be paused or rolled back. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNN last week: “I don’t think there’s any chance that President Trump’s going to back off his tariffs. This is the reordering of global trade.” On Monday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt described a news report suggesting the possibility of a 90-day pause in tariffs as “fake news”. But about four hours before Trump announced the pause in tariffs, he posted on his Truth Social platform, saying: “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!” After Trump’s later pause announcement, the S&P 500, which tracks the stock performance of 500 leading US companies, surged 9.5 percent. This marked one of the biggest one-day gains in 80 years for the index. The Nasdaq also jumped by 12.2 percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average grew by nearly 3,000 points. This means that investors who listened to Trump’s Truth Social advice and bought into the market yielded large returns. On the other hand, investors who sold assets during the market drop before the tariff pause, lost money. “The pause was and is controversial because it came after a week of the administration promising, over and over, that a pause would not happen, that negotiations would not happen, that the rates were there to stay,” Veljko Fotak, an associate professor of finance at the University at Buffalo School of Management, told Al Jazeera. “Of course, there were cracks even beforehand—the messaging was never 100 percent consistent—and, yet, the bulk of it was ‘tariffs are permanent.’ The pause undercut a lot of the people who are supposedly in charge as well—they seemed to be caught off-guard and unaware of the policy change,” said Fotak, whose areas of expertise include stock markets. Democrats have accused Trump of deliberately creating market fluctuations by flip-flopping between imposing and lifting tariffs. They want Trump to be investigated for market manipulation, the act of deliberately misleading free-flowing markets for profit. California Senator, Democrat Adam Schiff, posted on X, saying “these constant gyrations in policy provide dangerous opportunities for insider trading”. Schiff questioned: “Who in the administration knew about Trump’s latest tariff flip-flop ahead of time? Did anyone buy or sell stocks, and profit at the public’s expense?” In a separate post, the senator released a video of himself reiterating his suspicions about whether Trump’s inner circle “illegally profited” from the stock market swings. “Congress must find out,” he wrote. Is Donald Trump's inner circle illegally profiting off of these huge swings in the stock market by insider trading? Congress must find out. pic.twitter.com/ZZGX99PtFE — Adam Schiff (@SenAdamSchiff) April 9, 2025 Suspicions about investors knowing about Trump’s pause plan before he made the announcement were also fuelled by the fact that Nasdaq call volumes spiked less than 20 minutes before Trump announced the tariff pause. Democrat Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez reposted screenshots showing the call volume spike in an X post. “Any member of Congress who purchased stocks in the last 48 hours should probably disclose that now,” she wrote. “It’s time to ban insider trading in Congress.” Trump’s trade representative Jamieson Greer was testifying to a House of Representatives committee when Trump made the announcement. Democrat Steven Horsford, a Nevada congressman, asked Greer why he had not disclosed the decision to pause tariffs. “I don’t disclose my conversations with the president, Sir,” Greer responded. “If it was a plan, if it was always the plan, how is it not market manipulation?” Horsford said. Greer responded, saying this was not market manipulation, and the Trump administration was instead “trying to reset the global trade system that has offshored all our factories.” Follow Al Jazeera English:...

Kris Doolan believes budget cuts and a failure by the club to strengthen in January were key factors that led to his sacking as Partick Thistle manager. Speaking for the first time since leaving the club, Doolan, 38, indicated uncertainty behind the scenes also took a toll on the players. The fans' favourite and assistant Peter MacDonald had their contracts terminated in February after a run of four matches without a win and the Jags sitting fourth in the Scottish Championship table. Under interim management team Brian Graham and Mark Wilson, Thistle are still fourth and on course for the promotion play-offs after a six-game unbeaten run. "We will move on but I am gutted, I wanted to get the club to the Premiership," Doolan told BBC Scotland. "Decisions are made behind the scenes for whatever reason, whether that is financial reasons or other bits of decision making that go on in club boards. "If you are in the play-off positions how many managers lose their jobs? But I also understand that if Partick Thistle slip out of the play-offs there are financial repercussions." Doolan took over from Ian McCall in 2023 and led the Firhill side to the Premiership play-off final, eventually losing out to Ross County on penalties. In the following season Thistle reached the play-off semi-final, where they lost to Raith Rovers on spot-kicks. The former Thistle striker was confident he would have guided the team to the play-offs again this season had he had remained in post. "If the club had finished fifth, I would have walked away," Doolan said. "I was told to make the play-offs. If we didn't make the play-offs I would have put my hands up and I would have been the one that walked away and saved the club money. "Had we strengthened in January, those [last few] results I think would have been different. "I know how to guide the team to the play-offs. Through good and bad, even with things going on in the background, decisions going on behind me - I still could keep my focus." Doolan voiced his belief at the turn of the year that Partick Thistle could still play a part in the title race. "We moved eight or nine players in December/January time and didn't bring anybody in," he explained. "It was just the club having to claw back money. "You free up money on the playing side to bring in the players to make you stronger for the next half of the season. But when you free up that money and there is no money to spend you are running with eight players less. "And we sell Harry Milne, who I think is probably one of the best left backs outside the top half of the Premiership. I think he will be brilliant at Hearts. "The three above [Ayr United, Livingston and Falkirk] strengthened massively in January. The teams below strengthened in January. "We didn't have the finances available to go and do it. To not strengthen in January I think was a big mistake for the club, and I explained that. "Regardless of what is happening behind the scenes it is always the manager that will pay the price." Partick Thistle are a fan owned club and there have been several changes at board room level over the past few years. Pre-tax losses of £131,811 and £355,834 have been reported in the past two financial years. "The biggest thing is if there is a settled set-up behind the scenes, you will get a settled team on the pitch," Doolan said. "They go hand in hand. "It is a fan-owned club and the fans will always have the biggest say, which is absolutely right. "Behind the scenes if they can settle things down and give that leadership the club needs, then the club is there to be promoted. "When there is a bit of turmoil here and there – that I have seen over the last two years – when there are changes to the board and power struggles it ultimately filters its way down."