President Donald Trump is facing backlash after urging people to buy up certain stock amid the tariff chaos.
Trump’s import tariff announcements have caused a turbulent week at the stock market, with share prices plummeting amid the uncertainty.
Taking to his own social media platform, Truth Social, the president encouraged people to keep buying stocks as the prices wavered between losses and gains yesterday (April 9).
In a post, Trump wrote: “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT.”
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Just four hours after his post, Trump announced that he was placing a 90-day pause on almost all of his new tariffs (not including the 125% tariff on China).
This caused the stock prices to spike after a bleak few days for the market and now, Democratic senators are calling for there to be an investigation.
Taking to BlueSky, Democratic Senator Adam Schiff wrote: “Did anyone buy or sell stocks, and profit at the public’s expense?”
Over on X, formerly Twitter, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy added: “An insider trading scandal is brewing.”
Also on X, Democratic Senator Steven Horsford wrote: “This is grifting at its finest. It’s reckless governing and it’s designed to make billionaires richer while the rest of us pay the price.”
He went on to add: “So the trade representative hasn't spoken to the POTUS about a global reordering of trade, but yet he announced it on a tweet? WTF! Who is in charge?”
It’s not clear whether Trump was already thinking of pausing the tariff when he wrote his post on Truth Social.
When asked about his decision, Trump himself said: “Over the last few days, I’ve been thinking about it”
However, he then contradicted his answer by later saying he arrived at the decision ‘fairly early this morning.”
According to a report by the Associated Press, White House spokesman Kush Desai wrote: “It is the responsibility of the President of the United States to reassure the markets and Americans about their economic security in the face of nonstop media fear mongering.”
Speaking to the Associated Press, Kathleen Clark, a government ethics law expert at Washington University School of Law, said that while Trump’s post would likely have been investigated in other administrations, it will likely not trigger any reaction in this case.
She explained: “He’s sending the message that he can effectively and with impunity manipulate the market.
“As in: Watch this space for future stock tips.”