Reuters and CNBC Report a 90-Day Tariff Pause That Wasn't
CNBC ran a breaking-news banner saying adviser Kevin Hassett had said Trump was considering a 90-day pause on tariffs for every country except China. Reuters repeated the claim, citing CNBC.
A market-moving error about administration policy that did not clearly serve either party.
What was reported
CNBC ran a breaking-news banner saying adviser Kevin Hassett had said Trump was considering a 90-day pause on tariffs for every country except China. Reuters repeated the claim, citing CNBC.
What actually happened
Hassett had been asked about a pause on Fox and did not confirm one. A viral post had mischaracterized his answer. Stocks swung by trillions of dollars within minutes. The White House called the report fake news, CNBC corrected it on air, and Reuters withdrew its story, saying it regretted the error. Two days later, Trump did announce a 90-day pause for most countries, but on April 7 the claim attributed to Hassett was not what he had said.
The proof
Reuters' withdrawal notice, CNBC's statement that it aired unconfirmed information, and the transcript of Hassett's Fox interview.
The receipt. Copy this and paste it anywhere:
Reuters and CNBC Report a 90-Day Tariff Pause That Wasn't — Retracted. Reuters' withdrawal notice, CNBC's statement that it aired unconfirmed information, and the transcript of Hassett's Fox interview. Full file: https://www.thepropagandafiles.com/case/reuters-cnbc-90-day-tariff-pause/
Original reporting
- NBC News: How an errant headline about a tariff pause briefly sent stocks soaringhttps://www.nbcnews.com/business/markets/errant-headline-tariffs-pause-briefly-sent-stocks-soaring-rcna200004
Corrections, findings & records
- Reuters (via Kitco): Story withdrawn on Hassett's comments on tariff pausehttps://www.kitco.com/news/off-the-wire/2025-04-07/story-withdrawn-hassetts-comments-tariff-pause
- TheWrap: Reuters retracts report Trump was considering a tariff pausehttps://thewrap.com/reuters-retracts-report-trump-tariff-90-day-pause
- Fox Business: CNBC issues on-air correctionhttps://www.foxbusiness.com/media/cnbc-issues-on-air-correction-after-pushing-viral-falsehood-about-trump-tariff-pause
- PolitiFact: What Hassett said about a tariff pausehttps://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2025/apr/08/tweets/trump-hassett-tariff-pause-stock-market-rally-x/
Archived copies
Stories get edited after publication. These open the Internet Archive's earliest saved copy of each original.
- Archived copy: NBC News: How an errant headline about a tariff pause briefly sent stocks soaringhttps://web.archive.org/web/2/https://www.nbcnews.com/business/markets/errant-headline-tariffs-pause-briefly-sent-stocks-soaring-rcna200004