Over the past week, President Trump took bold action to rebalance America’s trade posture by imposing sweeping tariffs to confront decades of unfair foreign trade practices from countries like China and Mexico and restore strength to the nation’s manufacturing base.
The markets initially reacted with volatility as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite each fell nearly 6% last Friday in their steepest single-day declines since the 2020 pandemic crash.
But on Wednesday, after Trump issued an unexpected 90-day pause on most of the tariffs, the markets ignited a historic rebound. It became one of the largest single-day gains in modern history for Wall Street.
According to news reports in the days since, U.S. Senator Katie Britt’s Tuesday night appearance on Fox News’ “Hannity” alongside several of her fellow top Republican senators, was a catalyst for the President’s decision.
Because Trump was watching the show.
During the program, the senators used a majority of their on-air time to discuss the president’s tariff strategy and encouraged him to use the leverage he had earned to begin negotiating new trade deals.
According to The Washington Post, after the show, Trump held a roughly hour-long phone call with several of the senators – including Britt, Ted Cruz (R-TX), Tim Scott (R-SC), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) – where they discussed next steps with the president to strengthen his approach.
Ted Cruz advised the president to use his tariffs as leverage with U.S. trading partners. “I also encouraged him, as I did on the Hannity show, to negotiate quickly one or more major trade deals.”
Early Wednesday afternoon, President Trump told reporters in the Oval Office his decision to pause tariffs on non-retaliating countries “probably came together early this morning, fairly early this morning. Just wrote it up. We didn’t have the use of, we didn’t have access to lawyers.”
“We wrote it up from our hearts,” President Trump said.
Cruz said that the president’s decision on Wednesday was “consistent with what I and the others were urging.”
After the call, Britt expressed appreciation for the president’s willingness to engage with Senate Republicans.
In a statement to Yellowhammer News, she said, “President Trump continues to bring countries to the table. His ability to negotiate from a position of strength is a continuation of what he has demonstrated his entire career.”
“Ultimately, he is committed to ending unfair trade practices and reestablishing America First fair trade so our workers and families can once again live the American Dream,” Britt added.
Grayson Everett is the editor in chief of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on X @Grayson270.
