President Trump on Wednesday jacked up tariffs on China to 125 percent and implemented a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs against all other trading partners, causing a major surge in the markets.

“Based on the lack of respect that China has shown to the World’s Markets, I am hereby raising the Tariff charged to China by the United States of America to 125%, effective immediately. At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realize that the days of ripping off the U.S.A., and other Countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable,” he said on Truth Social.

Trump’s decision to pause the higher reciprocal tariffs that he announced last week, which hit about 60 countries on Wednesday morning, caused an immediate market surge.

Moments after his social media post, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising by 2,000 points after days of major losses on Wall Street.

Shortly after Trump’s social media post, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters at the White House that the 90-day pause is a result of the 75 countries wanting to negotiate a deal with the Trump administration to drop their tariffs, as well as a result of China escalating the trade war.

“Because of a large number of inbound, we had more than 75 countries contact us and I imagine after today, there will be more,” Bessent told reporters.

“China is the most unbalanced economy in the history of the modern world and they are the biggest source of the U.S. trade problems,” Bessent added, noting that he is speaking with China’s neighbors like Vietnam and India and called each negotiation “bespoke.”

Both the 125 percent tariffs on China and the 90-day pause on other trading partners will be effective immediately, officials confirmed.

Bessent said he has a meeting with Vietnamese officials on Wednesday and that he had a “good chat” with the Japanese ambassador on Tuesday night, calling what Trump created with his tariff plan “negotiating leverage.”

“I’m not calling it a trade war but I’m saying that China has escalated and President Trump responded very courageously to that and we are going to work on a solution with our trading partners,” Bessent said. “It’s China’s decision that we have a deficit with them. They sell us over five times what we sell them.”

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt added, “the entire world is calling the United States of America, not China.”

The president had raised tariffs on China to 104 percent on Wednesday morning after he threatened to add 50 percent to China’s current 54 percent tariff rate. The Chinese government vowed to “fight to the end” and impose more taxes on the U.S. after it initially responded to Trump’s tariffs by saying it would hit the U.S. with a matching 34 percent reciprocal tax on imports starting this week.

The president, in his Truth Social post on Wednesday, said his decision to pause tariffs on countries other than China was a result of foreign leaders wanting to negotiate.

“Conversely, and based on the fact that more than 75 Countries have called Representatives of the United States, including the Departments of Commerce, Treasury, and the USTR, to negotiate a solution to the subjects being discussed relative to Trade, Trade Barriers, Tariffs, Currency Manipulation, and Non Monetary Tariffs, and that these Countries have not, at my strong suggestion, retaliated in any way, shape, or form against the United States, I have authorized a 90 day PAUSE, and a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%, also effective immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump added.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on social platform X praised Trump’s post as a sign that trading partners want to fix issues while China wants to escalate the problem.

“Scott Bessent and I sat with the President while he wrote one of the most extraordinary Truth posts of his Presidency. The world is ready to work with President Trump to fix global trade, and China has chosen the opposite direction,” Lutnick said.

The president earlier this week said he would not consider a pause on tariffs while the stock market plummeted in the days after Trump’s "Liberation Day" announcement. Billionaire hedge fund investor Bill Ackman, who endorsed Trump last year, called on Trump over the weekend to hit the brakes on implementing tariffs for at least 90 days.

“Thank you on behalf of all Americans,” Ackman said on X after the announcement, praising Bessent and adding, “This was brilliantly executed by @realDonaldTrump. Textbook, Art of the Deal.”

Updated at 2:25 p.m.