White House Shoots Down 90-Day Tariff Pause Reports, Trump Advisor Says Vietnam’s 0% Offer Is Not Enough

The Trump administration shot down reports of a 90-day pause on tariffs as “fake news,” puncturing equity investors' hopes of relief following consecutive losses last week and the continuing mayhem on Monday.

“Wrong. Fake News,” said the White House on the social media platform X.

Trump’s reciprocal tariffs on 185 countries and territories, announced on April 2, have resulted in a market rout worldwide, drawing criticism from investors like Bill Ackman and Ray Dalio, among others.

Ackman called out President Trump’s tariff policy, calling it “massive and disproportionate,” and said it risks a global “economic nuclear war.”

He also urged the administration to call for a 90-day timeout, giving the country time to negotiate better deals.

The Trump administration advised countries not to retaliate with counter-tariffs.

"I would advise none of the countries to panic. I wouldn't try to retaliate because as long as you don't retaliate, this is the high end of the number," said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in an interview with Bloomberg.

Vietnam was among one of the first countries to offer 0% tariffs, but that is not flying well with the Trump administration.

“Let’s take Vietnam. When they come to us and say ‘we’ll go to zero tariffs,’ that means nothing to us because it’s the nontariff cheating that matters,” said White House advisor Peter Navarro on CNBC’s Squawk Box.

Navarro cited the routing of Chinese goods through Vietnam as an example of “cheating.”

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), which mirrors the S&P 500 index, was up 0.6% at the time of writing.

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Also See: ‘Magnificent 7’ Stocks Get Battered By Trump Tariffs – Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s Cryptic Post Has Investors Hooked