On April 9th, Eastern US Time, just hours after the "reciprocal tariff" policy came into effect, Trump suddenly announced a 90-day freeze on the policy.
What happened behind this 180-degree turnaround? According to US media reports, the main factor for Trump's decision to suspend the "reciprocal tariff" was the dumping of US Treasury bonds.
Charlie Gasparino, senior business correspondent for Fox News, disclosed more details. Gasparino claimed that the trigger for the policy shift was a large-scale dumping of US Treasuries by a Japanese financial institution, and Japan is the largest holder of US bonds.
Several fund companies confirmed to Gasparino that due to the sharp decline in the value of the stocks held by this institution, they had to liquidate their US Treasury positions to maintain liquidity.
That day, the yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond surged nearly 40 basis points within two days, briefly reaching the sensitive level of 4.5%, while the 30-year yield broke through the psychological barrier of 5%.
Gasparino claimed that the information he obtained was from inside the White House: "Japan forced the president to take this action." "If there is a large-scale sale of bonds, it means that people have lost confidence in the US economy and also lost the ability to transact with us. Based on the information I received, we were forced to implement a 90-day suspension measure," Gasparino added.
Proudly patriotic as he is, Gasparino argued that this was not an active move planned by Trump himself, but rather a "surrender" by the White House under pressure from the bond market.
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7491914567271219731/
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