‘Benzinga’ News Service That Falsely Reported a Possible 90-Day Break in Tariffs Blames X

On Monday stocks plummeted again following President Trump’s tariff announcements last week. For a brief moment, they dramatically shot back up following reports that Trump was considering a 90-day pause in tariffs. But, that turned out to be false, and people have been trying to find out where the idea that there would be a 90-day pause actually came from.

A company called Benzinga carried the headline “Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett Says Trump Is Considering A 90-Day Pause in Tariffs For All Countries Except China,” according to what appears to be a screenshot of the headline posted to Bluesky. 

Benzinga itself is now blaming posts on X for the market-moving mistake.

In response to an emailed request for comment, Steve Krause, chief of news operations for Benzinga Pro, told 404 Media that the company issued this note:

“Benzinga Note: Market continues to be volatile after the White House Calls Hassett Tariff Headline ‘Fake News’ Amid Numerous Tariff Developments from EU, China. Hassett was misquoted by numerous X accounts and sources as indicating that Trump was considering a 90-day pause in tariffs.”

Most people have probably not heard of Benzinga. It’s a company that is supposed to quickly provide information to financial professionals. The headline then got mentioned on CNBC. The outlet said the source of the claim was unclear. 

Still in response to that snippet of news, the S&P 500 leapt 8.5%. The White House then debunked the tariff pause, and the market immediately went back down.

Krause did not provide any more details on how or why unverified claims on X ended up being reported by Benzinga.

NBC News found one of it not the earliest claim of Hassett and the pause came from an account called @yourfavorito.