Geraldo Rivera Comments On What Trump Did With Tariffs
President Donald Trump’s surprise tariff maneuver on Wednesday triggered a rally in global markets and drew strong praise from longtime media figure Geraldo Rivera, who called the move “brilliant” and described it as a calculated ambush targeting China.
In a statement posted to Truth Social, Trump announced a 90-day suspension of reciprocal tariffs for all countries except China, which now faces a 125% increase. The policy shift was unexpected and immediately altered the global economic outlook, with markets rebounding sharply after days of instability.
Appearing on NewsNation Now, Rivera said Trump’s tactic effectively misled Beijing and global financial powers, luring them into complacency before executing a strategic reversal. “I believe that he ambushed China,” Rivera said. “I believe that he suckered the whole world into believing he was on a suicide mission against global trade.”
Rivera referenced the market conditions earlier in the week, describing widespread investor anxiety and heavy losses in retirement accounts. “People were watching their 401(k)s, their IRAs disappear. The whole nation was trembling,” he added.
The confusion surrounding Trump’s broader trade posture, which had involved confrontational rhetoric toward allies such as the United Kingdom, European Union, and Japan, was resolved in Rivera’s view after private discussions with financial insiders.
A breakfast meeting at New York’s Regency Hotel helped him frame the president’s move as a targeted strike against China, not a blanket assault on global commerce.
“I couldn’t understand it—why he was attacking everyone. But then it became clear. This was planned. He laid the trap, and China walked into it,” Rivera explained.
While acknowledging the fear that gripped markets earlier in the week, Rivera defended the president’s approach as necessary to correct trade imbalances. “China’s been cleaning our clock for a long time… dumping product, not taking ours,” he said.
Rivera emphasized that Trump’s strategy ultimately restored market confidence. “A lot of people are heaving a huge sigh of relief,” he concluded. “No one knew how far this was going to go. But look what he did—he flipped the game.”