Trump faces stock manipulation charges after 90-day tariff pause

US President Donald Trump's announcement of pausing tariffs on most countries sparked euphoria on global markets, but it has also attracted accusations of market manipulation.

Democrat leaders, experts, and even social media users are raising questions about a Truth Social post in which Trump urged his followers to 'buy.' The post came merely hours before Trump announced a 90-day pause.

At 9:37 am local time on Wednesday — minutes after markers opened in the United States — the US president posted on his Truth Social: This is a great time to buy!!! DJT.

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DJT is both the president’s initials and the ticker for his company, Trump Media & Technology.

The Trump Media & Technology Group Corp stock, like many others, experienced significant gains after the president's announcement.

Hours later, at around 1:20 pm local time, Trump announced the tariff pause. It led to a surge in all indexes, with the S&P 500 rising to 8.2 per cent, the Dow Jones industrial average advancing 7 per cent, and the NASDAQ composite jumping by 10.4 per cent.

However, several social media users pointed out that call volumes started spiking around 1:00 pm ET, minutes before Trump posted the news about the pause.

The surge seemed to be over by the time Trump made the announcement.

Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shared the data shared by Spencer Hakimian, the founder of Tolou Capital Management and Unusual Whales. She said: any member of congress who purchased stocks in the last 48 hours should probably disclose that now.

Ocasio-Cortez mentioned that the disclosure deadline is May 15.

Any member of Congress who purchased stocks in the last 48 hours should probably disclose that now.

I’ve been hearing some interesting chatter on the floor.

Disclosure deadline is May 15th. We’re about to learn a few things.

It’s time to ban insider trading in Congress. https://t.co/YBKMGbraAu

Days before the pause, Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene had disclosed the purchase of several stocks that faced steep drawdowns last week, including Apple and Amazon.

Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren also called for a formal investigation into whether Trump manipulated the stock market to benefit his Wall Street donors.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, following Trump's announcement on the tariff pause, the world's top 10 richest billionaires saw their combined net worth increase by $135 billion.

Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest person, saw the largest gain, with his net worth rising to $326 billion with an increase of $35.9 billion.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg followed with a $25.8 billion increase, bringing his wealth to $207 billion. Meanwhile, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos added $18.5 billion, pushing his fortune to $210 billion.