The Real Reason Trump Halted the 'Tariff Bomb'?

Source

Korea Economic Daily

Summary

President Trump announced a 90-day deferral of tariff policy due to a surge in government bond yields, with over 60% of his financial assets in bonds.
The NYT raised suspicions that President Trump did not relinquish control of his assets, suggesting this decision was for asset protection.
There are also allegations that President Trump's aides knew insider information and made stock purchases to gain profits.

Unyielding Until the Day Before Tariff Deferral

Attitude Shifted Rapidly Facing 'Bond Loss'

NYT "60% of Trump's Financial Assets are Bonds

Possible Influence on Policy Decisions"

Allegations have surfaced that the reason U.S. President Donald Trump suddenly announced a 90-day deferral of tariffs on the 9th was due to a significant portion of his assets being in bonds.

On the 18th, the New York Times (NYT) reported that an analysis of President Trump's asset details from last year revealed he holds at least $125 million in bonds. Considering his total financial assets are about $206 million, the bond proportion exceeds 60%.

In contrast, the proportion of stock investments was less than 10%. Even with conservative estimates, the bond asset size is more than twice that of stock assets excluding Trump Media.

Immediately after announcing the tariff deferral, President Trump mentioned, "The bond market is very tricky," and "I'm watching the bond market," indicating that the surge in government bond yields was a key background to the policy change.

The NYT pointed out, "President Trump was unyielding to criticism from various quarters or stock market crashes, but moved when the bond market panicked," and "The fundamental issue of this situation is that he has not entrusted or relinquished control of his assets."

Some quarters have also raised insider trading allegations. On the day of the tariff deferral announcement, President Trump posted on social media, "Now is a good time to buy (stocks)," and officially announced the deferral policy about three hours later. This has led to suspicions that some close aides may have known the information in advance and bought stocks to gain a profit.

Reporter Dayeon Lim allopen@hankyung.com