In the coming days, you should expect President Donald Trump to find new and exciting ways to avoid mentioning the bond market.
Trump buried the lede on the rapid sell-off of Treasury bonds by foreign investors — and the lack of long-term faith in the United States’ market such a move signifies — on Wednesday, telling reporters that he reversed course on his much-touted trade war because people were “getting yippy.”
“I thought that people were jumping a little bit out of line. They were getting yippy, you know, they were getting a little bit yippy, a little bit afraid,” Trump said. “No other president would have done what I did.”
Trump did say the bond market was “queasy,” but only after saying it was “beautiful.”
Trump paused his raft of reciprocal tariffs for 90 days earlier in the day, leaving in place massive duties on Chinese imports over a purported “lack of respect.”
While many conservative commentators lined up to congratulate Trump on his supposedly masterful gambit, others pointed out that Trump’s hand was likely forced by economic disarray. Fox Business correspondent Charlie Gasparino told his rah-rah colleagues to tone down the celebration of Trump’s deal-making. Gasparino said that Trump “capitulated” because of terrifying indicators in the market.
“To tell you right now that Donald Trump outsmarted the world,” Gasparino said, “that’s not really what happened here.”
Though Trump has said that countries are “kissing [his] ass” and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent made mention of deals with 75 countries, Gasparino splashed some cold water on the idea of Trump as a master strategist. Noting that the Trump White House has never been shy about announcing made deals, the reporter pointed a finger at the bond market as the real impetus behind Trump’s 180.
“If you have a mass sale of bonds, that means people are losing confidence in the U.S. economy, on the ability to do deals with us,” Gasparino said. “Those markets were imploding last night.”
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