Trump’s tariff pause prompts stock rebound, but also questions of market manipulation

Reactions to Wednesday’s stock market surge covered the gamut in San Diego, with business leaders expressing cautious optimism.

Angry Democrats, however, including one from North County, responded to the upswing – the market gained nearly 3,000 points on news that President Donald Trump had delayed implementation of most of his sweeping tariffs – by accusing him of market manipulation.

The market had taken sharp hits since Thursday, a day after Trump revealed his “reciprocal tariff” plan, which targeted 90 countries. The initial drop erased $5 trillion in value.

The market fell to lows on Monday and, after a brief rebound, again Wednesday morning before beginning its sharp rise just after 10 a.m. PST on Trump’s announcement.

Earlier in the day, though, before he revealed the pause on tariffs, Trump took to social media, urging people to “BE COOL,” adding “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!”

Rep. Mike Levin, whose district covers parts of San Diego and Orange counties, along with other Congressional Democrats, seized on that statement.

“Trump posts THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!—then caves on tariffs hours later,” Levin wrote on X. “Market surges. Middle-class investors who sold during the chaos lose big. Insiders win again. This is market manipulation to help his base profit.”

Levin concluded: “How is this legal or OK?”

Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nevada, denounced Trump’s actions before his trade representative, Jamieson Greer, during testimony before the House Ways and Means committee, on which Horsford sits.

“Is this market manipulation? Why not?” Horsford asked Greer. “If it was a plan, if it was always the plan, how is this not market manipulation?”

“It’s not market manipulation, sir,” Greer answered.

“Then what is it?” Horsford fired back. “‘Cause it sure is not a strategy.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom also criticized the administration, tweeting that, “Trump caved. He will change his mind again.” The governor also repeated his call last week to countries that might want to do business in the state. “To our international partners: California is a stable, reliable partner,” he wrote. “We want your business.”

The San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, nearing the end of its annual trade mission to Washington D.C., said delegates there saw “saw advocacy in action, and the outcomes have global impacts.”

That applies, of course, to tariffs, and Jessica Anderson, the chamber’s outgoing interim president and CEO, hopes the Trump administration’s actions Wednesday signal a willingness to go beyond pausing them.

“We are encouraged by the Administration’s pause on international tariffs and hope this signals moving in a direction of eliminating them entirely,” she said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.