Tariffs pause: US Senator suggests probe into insider trading over Donald Trump's ‘BUY’ post before announcement

Donald Trump's tariffs pause: United States Democratic Senator Adam Schiff has suggested that he will investigate if there was insider trading facilitated by US President Donald Trump's social media post encouraging followers to “buy”, before he announced the tariffs pause that shot stock prices upwards.

Speaking to reporters in the Senate building, Adam Schiff said the investigation would check if there was insider trading with Donald Trump's announcement on pausing tariffs.

"Not much of a secret when the president tweets to the entire world to "BUY" 3 hours before the announcement," he told reporters.

Insider Trading? Who Knew Flip-Flop on Tariffs? Questions US Senator

“I'm writing to the White House to demand who knew in advance that the president was gonna once again flip flop on tariffs? And are people cashing in? There is just all too much opportunity for people in the White House and the administration to be insider trading,” Schiff told reporters.

US Markets Skyrocket After Donald Trump's Tariff Pause

US stocks skyrocketed after Donald Trump announced a temporary 90 day pause from his planned tariffs on all countries, except China, and a lowered the “reciprocal” tariff to 10 per cent base during the three months of truce. 

This is just the kind of news investors had been eagerly anticipating, and the S&P 500 jumped 9.5 per cent on April 9. This was the S&P 500's largest single-day gain since World War II, and October 13, 2008 when it jumped 11.6 per cent.

The Nasdaq Composite jumped 12 per cent, gaining 1857.06 points to reach 17,124.97. Meanwhile, Wall Street’s other major indexes also saw strong gains, with the Dow Jones climbing 7.9 per cent.

Among company stocks, big tech leaped — Tesla rose 18.82 per cent to close at 263.62. Intel advanced 16.96 per cent to finish at 21.20. NVIDIA jumped 16.18 per cent to settle at 111.88. Apple added 10.15 per cent, ending the session at 189.93, while Amazon rose 9.83 per cent to close at 187.43.