President Donald Trump denied that an aggressive bond market sell-off influenced his decision earlier this month to hold off on aggressive "reciprocal" tariffs against U.S. trading partners.
"No, it wasn't for that reason," Trump told Time magazine. "I'm doing that until we come up with the numbers that I want to come up with."
In the decree, Trump slapped 10% across-the-board duties against all U.S. imports and released a list of tariffs against dozens of other nations. The extra levies were based on trade deficits the U.S. had against the respective countries and raised fears about inflation, a potential recession and disruption of long-held trade agreements.
Markets recoiled following the release. Treasury yields initially headed lower but quickly snapped higher. The 10-year yield rose half a percentage point in just a few days, one of its quickest moves ever, as investors also ditched stocks and the U.S. dollar.