The recent stock market downturn has raised questions about whether financial elites are deliberately undermining President Donald Trump’s economic agenda.
Since early March, the S&P 500 has tumbled nearly 6% from its mid-February highs, with technology stocks bearing the brunt of the decline.
While mainstream financial media attribute the selloff to Trump’s tariff policies, a closer examination reveals a more complex dynamic between Wall Street and the administration’s America First economic approach.
“I think it’s globalists that see how rich our country’s going to be, and they don’t like it,” Trump said during a recent Oval Office press event when asked about market declines. Supporters and political allies have also noted that an overwhelming number of Wall Street billionaires and investment firms are significant Democratic donors.
The timing of the market’s retreat is particularly noteworthy. It began in earnest after Trump moved forward with tariffs on Canada and Mexico that many financial analysts had dismissed as mere negotiating tactics.
Supporters of Trump called the market downturn “impossible” —
OK THIS IS WEIRD‼️
We went from a projected GDP growth of 3.9% a month ago to now a projected contraction of 1.5%? Over tariffs? WHAT?!!! That is not possible. Something is fishy as hell with these numbers!
Is this the deep state fighting back?
[The Atlanta Federal Reserve…
— Bill Mitchell (@mitchellvii) March 10, 2025
The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board, which has repeatedly clashed with Trump on trade policy, called his approach “The dumbest trade war in history” in a January editorial.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, a market veteran who previously trained under legendary hedge fund manager Stanley Druckenmiller, has pushed back against suggestions that the administration’s policies are behind the stock downturn.
“There’s no put,” Bessent told CNBC. Instead, Bessent has characterized Trump’s tariffs as a “one-time price adjustment” rather than an ongoing negative force.
“It’s just a much needed course adjustment,” he explained, citing research on the “China Shock” that showed American workers never recovered from previous trade losses.
The administration’s “America First” defenders point out that foreign markets are thriving even as U.S. stocks struggle. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has surged to a three-year high while Germany’s DAX is at all-time levels. It raises questions about why global markets would be performing well if Trump’s policies were triggering widespread economic damage.
Indeed, many major Wall Street firms have significantly increased their short positions—bets that stocks will decline—in recent weeks.
Combined with coordinated mainstream media attacks against tariffs and the administration’s fight agianst trade deficits and government spending, there has been growing speculation about whether Wall Street’s financial elites are engineering a general market decline to pressure the administration into abandoning its radical economic reform agenda.
Meanwhile, companies are scrambling to adjust to the new reality. General Motors CFO Paul Jacobson told investors that while long-term tariffs might force GM to reconsider its manufacturing footprint, the company isn’t making immediate changes.
“As much as the market is pricing in a big impact of tariffs and lost profitability, think about a world where we’re spending billions in capital, and then it ends. We can’t be whipsawing the business back and forth,” he said.
The administration has set April 2nd as the implementation date for its “reciprocal tariff” plan, where countries that impose higher tariffs on U.S. goods will face equivalent tariffs in return. This deadline could be creating artificial selling pressure as investors position themselves for potential volatility.
The president’s unorthodox approach to trade and economic policy has disrupted traditional financial power centers and created tension with globalist economic frameworks that have dominated for decades.
That’s a direct threat to the United States’ elite financial powerbrokers.
For ordinary Americans concerned about their investments, there are important questions about portfolio protection for their retirement savings.
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