Scott Bessent: The man who convinced Trump to pause tariffs

On Wednesday, US Presidents Donald Trump shocked the world by announcing a 90-day pause on the ‘reciprocal tariffs.’

The development came after days of chaos in stock markets around the world and dire predictions from experts about a recession and possibly a depression.

Trump had on April 2 announced the tariffs on ‘Liberation Day.’

Now, there are reports that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent played a key role in the pause.

But what happened? What do we know about Bessent’s role?

Let’s take a closer look:

What happened?

Trump had spent the past few days insisting that the tariffs would remain.

On Sunday, Trump said he was not worried about the wild swings and fluctuations in the US stock market.

“Sometimes you need to take your medicine,” Trump had been quoted as saying.

“I know what the hell I’m doing,” Trump told Republicans on Tuesday, as per The New York Times.

On Wednesday morning, Trump maintained his optimistic tone even as the US stock market was in turmoil.

“Be Cool! Everything is going to work out well. The USA will be bigger and better than ever before!” he wrote on Truth Social.

Trump added, “This is a great time to buy!!! DJT.”

However, Trump just hours later announced the 90-day pause on tariffs – with an exception for China, on whom he was increasing the levy to 125 per cent.

“I thought that people were jumping a little bit out of line. They were getting yippy. You know, they were getting a little bit yippy, a little bit afraid,” Trump was quoted as saying by NY Mag.

Trump also admitted the bond market had played a role in his decision.

“I was watching the bond market. It’s very tricky. If you look at it now, it’s beautiful. The bond market right now is beautiful. But I saw last night where people were getting a little queasy,” he said.

The abrupt U-turn caused whiplash in many.

Though Trump’s backers including billionaires Bill Ackman and Stephen Miller attempted to play off the president’s announcement as a brilliant move, others insisted Trump had simply lost his nerve in the face of chaos in the bond market.

But what role did Bessent play?

As per Voxnews.Al, Bessent met Trump at Mar-a-Lago days after the tariffs went into effect.

Then, Bessent took to social media to announce that he and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer were handling the issue.

“Bessent and Greer are better qualified to negotiate without getting angry. They are like the best police officers to manage traffic towards reducing tensions and towards meaningful results,” a White House source told the Financial Times.

According to The New York Times, Bessent and Vice President JD Vance were among those advising Trump to take a more organised approach to the matter.

They said the emphasis ought to be on China while maintaining the stance that the president was focused on correcting trade imbalances.

In fact, Bessent had already began working on Trump on Sunday during a flight back to Washington.

Bessent told the president to focus on negotiating with other countries.

He also flattered Trump, calling him the best negotiator there is, according to four people familiar with the discussion.

Bessent also said Trump needed to lay out the endgame because the markets craved certainty.

As per The Telegraph, Trump responded that any pain was only “short term.”

However, Trump also told reporters “virtually every country wants to negotiate”.

On Wednesday, Bessent and other top economic advisers were summoned to the White House to meet Trump.

The newspaper reported that Bessent, commerce secretary Howard Lutnick and Kevin Hassett, the director of the National Economic Council, all met Trump.

The four discussed the 10-year treasury yield and the US financial system.

As per The Telegraph, Bessent and Lutnick told the president they were being inundated with calls from nations ready to negotiate. They urged Trump to pause the tariffs to give them space to work.

They said China’s retaliatory tariff hike on US imports allowed Trump to focus on Beijing while letting the other countries take a breather, an administration official told Axios.

By noon, Bessent and Lutnick were helping Trump come up with the phrasing of his social media post.

Trump himself described it as “one of the most extraordinary Truth posts of his presidency”.

Trump told reports the decision “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. But this was something certainly we’ve been talking about for a period of time, and we decided to pull the trigger, and we did it today, and we’re happy about it,” he added.

As per New York Magazine, Bessent later went on TV to insist “this was his [Trump’s] strategy all along.”

Bessent, to the amusement of many, also claimed that the bond market had not affected Trump’s decision – a statement that was belied by Trump’s assertions of watching the bond market.

“Over the last few days, it looked pretty glum,” Trump told reporters after the pause was announced, as per Bloomberg.

“You have to have flexibility,” Trump was quoted as saying by CNN. “I think in financial markets, because they change, look how much you change today.”

Now, the ball is in Bessent’s court.

It remains to be seen whether Bessent can pull off one-on-one deals with various countries.

With inputs from agencies