HOT TOPICS | Tariffs, Chaos, and a 90-Day Timeout: Market Manipulation? - April 10th, 2025
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
in the chat saying don i love you need to start on time look you can blame me a little bit today but you could also blame our guests because we're both having a date we're just having one of those days where you're just a little bit behind you know we don't put so much pressure on each other over here on the don lemon show we like to you know hey look oof and i say that and then look what's right there Okay, so good morning, everyone. Welcome to Hot Topics. Thank you for joining the Don Lemon Show. I appreciate it. You're going to love or hate or both, I believe, our guest coming up. But he's very knowledgeable about everything that's going on right now, and I'm so happy that he's here to talk to him.
So Kevin O'Leary is going to join us. I'll introduce him in just a second, okay? But let me just tell you what's going on. So I posed this question last night, and I'll pose it again this morning. Did we avert an utter economic disaster, or did we merely delay it? And by the way, my analysis... and I'm not a financial expert, was exactly 100% right on where I said, don't get too excited. Don't get too excited about a lot of this stuff because it goes up, it goes down. The president, as we know, as I spilled a glass of water all over everything, the president, as we know, is erratic. You never know what he's going to do. You never know exactly what is going to happen with him. You could say one thing one minute and one thing the next minute.
So despite Donald Trump's move to reverse course and break his own promises in pausing most of the so-called reciprocal tariffs, the stock market cratered when it opened this morning. It is down. I don't know what's going on, but I don't think the experts know either. Apparently, folks remembered that a 125% tariff on China is going to absolutely annihilate American small business sector, the American small business sector. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 800 points, or about 2%. The S&P 500 shed 2.4%, while the Nasdaq slid 2.9%. And folks are beginning to ask more questions about Trump's erratic moves. Check out this New York Times headline. Trump's encouragement... of stock investors draws scrutiny.
A lot of people are looking sideways at this, wondering if it's some sort of insider trading or akin to insider trading, thus our thumbnail that says insider trader, okay? Specifically, lawmakers in Washington are looking to investigate if the Trump administration officials committed insider trading in advance of the Truth Social Post, which also used this company's ticker ID, DJT. So much to discuss. Fortunately, a brilliant guest. He thinks I'm controversial. I think he's controversial. That's what he said to me before the show. Kevin O'Leary is a brilliant businessman, the chairman of Beanstalk Investing. And of course, Mr. Wonderful on the Shark Tank. Kevin, you're looking good. You've been traveling.
You're in D.C. yesterday. You're here. What say you about all of this and specifically about did you see this New York Times article? What did you think of that?
Yeah, look, I've seen a lot of articles and I've heard a lot of narrative that's been going on regarding Trump. And there's no question about it. It's created a lot of volatility in global markets, not just equity markets, but also bond markets. And that's actually what triggered, I think, the response of the White House yesterday was a move in the treasuries, because the last thing you want are countries like China and Japan selling treasuries. They hold trillions of dollars worth of them. So that was kind of what occurred. But having said all that, yesterday in Washington, D.C., was all about China. And the hearings were there. I was testifying as well as others. And also there was a meeting, a lunch meeting with senators held by Rick Scott, where China came up again.
And so it's China, China, China, China.
China, China, China. I want to get there because I think China I think it's important.
What triggered today’s market crash and why did Trump pause tariffs for 90 days?
I think China needs to be to be reined in. Absolutely. But I want to get to the news of the day with you and then we can talk China and then we can talk crypto and all those things, because I know those are very important topics to you.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:12–4:00
2
What triggered today’s market crash and why did Trump pause tariffs for 90 days?
4:00–14:09
3
Were Trump’s early buy-the-market posts and DJT ticker mentions possible insider trading?
14:09–20:40
4
How does Kevin O'Leary assess allegations of insider trading and market manipulation?
20:40–50:05
5
Could extreme tariffs (125%–400%) on China actually force a trade deal or devastate small businesses?
50:05–1:10:46