Nevada Rep. Steven Horsford grilled trade representative Jamieson Greer on President Donald Trump’s abrupt tariff pause during a committee hearing Wednesday, asking “How is this not market manipulation?”
“Tariffs are a tool, they can be used in the appropriate way to protect U.S. jobs and small businesses, but that’s not what this does,” Horsford said of Trump’s “strategy” which Greer tried to defend. “So if it’s not market manipulation, what is it? Who’s benefiting? What billionaire just got richer?”
The Democratic representative proceeded to spotlight how Republicans “all left” the hearing because “they don’t even wanna defend this.”
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“Meanwhile, the speaker [Mike Johnson] is rushing to the floor to pass a budget reconciliation to screw America by passing the biggest tax cut in history on the backs of the American people,” Horsford added. “WTF! Who’s in charge? Because it sure doesn’t look like it’s the trade representative—you just got the rug pulled out from under you.”
On Wednesday, Trump announced a reversal on his sweeping reciprocal tariffs on global trade partners and implemented a 90-day pause for negotiations. China, however, remained on the president’s tariff list and will now face an increased tariff rate of 125 percent.
Trump’s decision, which several top aides have described as a strategy that was the plan all along, has angered a handful of Democrats for its apparent rug-pull approach.
Hawaii Senator Brian Schatz mocked the president in an X post Wednesday writing in all-caps: “Our plan is working perfectly and is just a negotiating tactic but it is also going to be permanent and we will be the world leader in textiles and now there is a pause and everyone needs to chill but also we will never back down aaaaaahhhhhhh.”
Sen. Adam Schiff also took a jab at Trump on social media, criticizing the president for “creating giant market fluctuations with his on-again, off-again tariffs.”
“These constant gyrations in policy provide dangerous opportunities for insider trading,” the California senator continued. “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?”
“I’m writing to the White House—the public has a right to know,” he concluded.
The stock market has seen a healthy resuscitation following Trump’s tariff pause with the S&P 500 soaring 9.3 percent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average a 7.4 percent increase, and the Nasdaq Composite recorded an 11.7 percent jump, according to CNBC.
The president initially announced the tariff pause in a Truth Social post Wednesday where he credited “75 countries” for not retaliating in “any way, shape, or form against the United States” and wanting to negotiate instead as a reason for a “90 day PAUSE, and a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff” during its period.
