A false social media post about Trump's tariffs almost sank the stock market

As the markets continue to react to news of President Donald Trump's controversial tariffs, further havoc has ensued thanks to a fake viral social media post.

At approximately 10.15 am yesterday (April 7), the market suddenly began to rally following a post on X, formerly Twitter, by user Walter Bloomberg - not associated with Bloomberg News.

In his post, which has since been deleted, he claimed the White House was contemplating a 90-day pause on tariffs after watching a CNBC interview with Kevin Hassett, an economic adviser to Trump.

“HASSETT: TRUMP IS CONSIDERING A 90-DAY PAUSE IN TARIFFS FOR ALL COUNTRIES EXCEPT CHINA," the user posted.

However, there was no evidence proving this claim to be true, as Hassett gave an evasive answer when questioned if a pause was an option being considered.

Meanwhile, this fake post soon caused a positive reaction in the markets.

Although the White House soon addressed the claim from its official Rapid Response account, where it declared a 90-day pause to be "FAKE NEWS."

Consequently, this caused a fall in the market once more, proving to show just how turbulent the economy is at the moment as a result of Trump's tariffs and how misinformation online can have real-time consequences.

A pause looks even more unlikely given Trump's latest post on Truth Social, where he's warned additional tariffs on China are coming if the country refuses to reverse it's reciprocal 34 per cent tariff on all imports from the United States.

“[I]f China does not withdraw its 34% increase above their already long term trading abuses by tomorrow, April 8th, 2025,” he posted, “the United States will impose ADDITIONAL Tariffs on China of 50%, effective April 9th.”

How did people believe this fake news to be true?

Between having "Bloomberg" as his surname and having the platform's $8 per month verification badge, these factors resulted in people believing the user to be a member of the media.

Paying for verification was a policy introduced by the platform's owner, Elon Musk, who bought the social media company back in 2022, a move which has made it more difficult for users to decipher between real and fake news.

Elsewhere, Trump slammed for golfing amid tariffs: 'This may end up being the most enduring image of his presidency’, and is Elon Musk ‘soft launching’ a Trump breakup? Tesla boss attacks tariffs after Doge snub.

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