90-day Trump tariff pause for all nations except China

WASHINGTON: Facing a global market meltdown, President Donald Trump on Wednesday abruptly backed down on his tariffs on most nations for 90 days, but raised his tax rate on Chinese imports to 1258.

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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters that Trump was pausing his so-called 'reciprocal' tariffs on most of the country's biggest trading partners, but maintaining his 10% tariff on nearly all global imports.

Imports tariffs on goods from China, though, would surge to 1258 "effective immediately" Trump said on social media.

It was seemingly an attempt to narrow what had been an unprecedented trade war between the US and most of the world to one between the US and China.

Global markets surged on the development.

Wall Street's main indexes jumped on Wednesday after Trump authorised a 90-day pause on tariffs, effective immediately.

Meanwhile, the US Treasury's $39-billion 10-year note auction came in within market expectations, priced at a high yield of 4.4358, lower than the rate forecast at the bid deadline, suggesting solid investor demand.

The yield on the IO-year note was last at 4.370% amid a sell-off in the bond market, where tariff-driven turmoil prompted investors to dump safe-haven US Treasuries for a dash of cash, pushing yields higher.

Rate-sensitive real estate and utilities - often seen as a bond proxy owing to their steady income regardless of the economic situation-cut losses and were last up 58 and 3.2% respectively.

Large technology stocks still led gains, with Apple rising 108 and Nvidia up 138.