Sen. Adam Schiff of California has questions about President Donald Trump’s 90-day pause in tariffs — specifically about insider trading.
“Trump is creating giant market fluctuations with his on-again, off-again tariffs,” Schiff posted on Bluesky. “These constant gyrations in policy provide dangerous opportunities for insider trading.”
He said that he was writing a letter to the White House, asking, “Who in the administration knew about Trump’s latest tariff flip flop ahead of time? Did anyone buy or sell stocks, and profit at the public’s expense?”
One week ago, Trump announced a broad 10% tariff on more than 180 countries and additional targeted tariffs on the European Union and China. The announcement sent the stock market into a tailspin, wiping out $10 trillion in three days.
The stock market rebounded on Wednesday after Trump’s announcement that many of the tariffs would be paused for 90 days, with some exceptions like China, which was slapped with a total 125% tariff.
Several hours before the announcement and shortly after the opening bell, Trump posted to Truth Social: “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!”
Now, Schiff wants to know if people in the White House bought stock, knowing that Trump was going to announce the pause.
Schiff’s office did not respond to a request for comment, including about the letter he plans on sending to the White House.
Earlier on Wednesday, Schiff told Time he wanted to investigate potential insider trading.
“I’m going to do my best to find out,” he said. “Family meme coins and all the rest of it are not beyond insider trading or enriching themselves. I hope to find out soon.”
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Trade Rep. Greer says Trump ‘is in charge’
Schiff’s comments came after a particularly awkward exchange during US Trade Rep. Jamieson Greer’s appearance at a House Ways and Means hearing on Wednesday.
Greer was questioned by Rep. Steven Horsford, who asked if he was aware of Trump’s intended tariffs pause — news that dropped during Greer’s Q&A session.
Horsford also asked if Greer was aware of the tariffs pause when he gave his opening statement — and if so, why he did not disclose to Congress any plans he knew about.
“There’s no strategy. You just found out three seconds ago, sitting here, we saw you,” Horsford told Greer.
“It looks like your boss just pulled the rug out from under you and paused the tariffs, the taxes on the American people,” Horsford said.
Greer responded that Trump “is in charge,” and that he would not disclose the content of his “conversations with the president.”
Horsford and Greer did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Rapid Response 47 X account, a White House account, responded to posts about a potential 90-day tariff pause as far back as April 7.
At 10:39 a.m. ET on April 7, the account posted the reply “Wrong. Fake News,” in response to Twitter speculation of such a tariff pause.
The post remains up, as of press time.
Trump’s U-turn on tariffs comes after a week of chaos in the markets — and calls from big business leaders to reconsider his sweeping slate of economic measures.
