In Trump’s world cracks are growing and the billionaires are angry at the chaos ...Middle East

When Donald Trump took to on Truth Social on Wednesday morning it was not clear who he was addressing, as markets braced for more turmoil.

“BE COOL! Everything is going to work out well. The USA will be bigger and better than ever before,” he wrote.

Was it the American public in general? Was he trying to bolster his own self-belief? Or was he targeting the growing band of critics made up of people usually loyal to him, but now urging him to alter course?

By mid-afternoon in Washington DC, we had an answer. Trump was pausing the majority of his swingeing “reciprocal” tariffs on other countries – with the exception China which is facing increased levies of 125 per cent – buckling to pressure from his allies and the ongoign chaos in the markets.

The White House later confirmed Mexico and Canada were also excluded from the 90-day relief (despite officials breifing the contrary).

After days of turmoil, it was the hapless treasury secretary Scott Bessent sent out with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, to claim this was part of Trump’s plan all along.

It was the usual Trump chaos; either way, US markets soared on the news.

Bessent claimed up to 70 countries were now working on “bespoke” trade deals with the US and had listened to the president’s message: “Do not retaliate, and you will be rewarded,” he said.

Those who had been pressuring Trump to backtrack included billionaire Wall Street investors, CEOs of major companies, and Republican Senators, some of whom are backing a bill to remove the president’s power to set tariffs and return it to Congress.

Bill Ackman, CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, has been among Trump’s most loyal supporters. More recently, he was warning of a “self-induced, economic nuclear winter” if the president went ahead with his tariffs.

He said many small businesses owners – the type of people Republicans have typically count on for votes – were facing an existential threat.

“If the president doesn’t pause the effect of the tariffs soon, many small businesses will go bankrupt,” Ackman wrote on X. “Medium-sized businesses will be next.”

Ackman, said to be worth $8.8bn, obviously has lots at stake personally.

He is among other billionaires who, along with the 62 per cent of American adults who possess stock investments, have watched as markets lost as much as 20 per cent in less than a week.

The very richest have seen huge losses.

According to data collated by the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, Elon Musk, originally worth $298bn, has lost $135bn since the beginning of the year.

Jeff Bezos, who was valued at $196bn has lost $43bn; Mark Zuckerberg, worth $183bn at the start of 2025 has lost $25bn; and Warren Buffet, who had been worth $154bn has lost $12bn.

The 94-year-old Buffett, celebrated for donating large chunks of his wealth to philanthropic causes, had presciently moved much of his holdings out of the stock market and into cash before the crisis.

In Britain, Sir James Ratcliffe, 72, said to the be second wealthiest person and valued at $12.62 billion, has lost $1.29 billion. Entrepreneur James Dyson, founder of Dyson Holdings and valued at $14.7 billion, lost $1.21 billion.

In the United States, Wall Street investors benefited from the tax cuts and regulation slashing that Trump oversaw during his first term.

They also knew that Trump – who presented himself as a business genius on the reality TV show The Apprentice, despite the the many bankruptcies he’d overseen – paid attention to what happened to the markets.

First time around, if Trump said or did something that caused the markets to drop, he would more often than not reverse course.

But Trump’s second term is already starkly different to his first; on the campaign trail, many of his richest backers chose to ignore the 78-year-old’s repeated vows to impose tariffs on the rest of the world.

The full story of Trump’s climbdown on Wednesday will surely be told. But it is no secret that there are differences of opinion within the administration.

Immigration hardliner Stephen Miller, and trade adviser Peter Navarro, have presented the most extreme position, sometimes suggesting tariffs are a matter of national security.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is often on TV to champion Trump’s policy, but often comes across as unconvincing.

Tesla boss Musk, who gave $100m help Trump win and spearheaded efforts to fire federal workers and shut down departments, has long opposed tariffs. He has become increasingly critical and called Navarro “a moron”.

In Congress, Republicans who worry about the party’s chances in the mid-terms, have been speaking out and criticising the president’s actions with language unimaginable just weeks ago.

square POLITICS

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Texas Senator Ted Cruz, another loyalist, has said: “Tariffs are a tax on consumers, and I’m not a fan of jacking up taxes on American consumers, so my hope is these tariffs are short-lived, and they serve as leverage to lower tariffs across the globe.”

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul declared: “I am a Republican. I am a supporter of Donald Trump. But this is a bipartisan problem.”

At least seven Republican senators have signed a bipartisan bill that would place a check on the tariff authority Congress.

“For too long, Congress has delegated its clear authority to regulate interstate and foreign commerce to the executive branch,” said Republican Charles Grassley.

It is not clear there would be enough Republican votes in the House of Representatives to back a similar measure, though a recent report said a dozen GOP members were examining such a proposal.

Trump could, of course, veto any such legislation.

To overcome such a move the Senate would need 67 votes, a figure that is probably not there at the moment but could change if the damage from the tariffs is felt more keenly by ordinary voters.

After the announcement on Wednesday, there was likely a sense of relief among those who had money in the markets – more than 60 per cent of Americans.

But that may not last.

Trump has not stepped away from his desire to confront China and the American public is likely to suffer the results.

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