Trump pauses tariffs, world's billionaires get S$407 billion richer in market rebound

Billionaires around the world added US$304 billion (S$407 billion) to their combined net worth after U.S. president Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause on tariffs on most trading partners.

This was the largest one-day gain in the history of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Bloomberg reported.

The largest individual gainer was Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who added US$36 billion (S$48.3 billion) to his fortune.

Meta's Mark Zuckerberg came in second with a US$26 billion (S$34.9 billion) gain, followed by Nvidia's Jensen Huang with US$15.5 billion (S$20.8 billion).

Losses

This comes after Trump's "reciprocal" tariffs caused the stock market to plunge, resulting in billionaires suffering their biggest two-day loss ever.

The world's 500 richest people lost a collective US$536 billion (S$718 billion) on Apr. 3 and 4, according to Bloomberg.

Musk was the biggest loser then, with his net worth seeing a US$31 billion (S$41.6 billion) decline.

Zuckerberg, on the other hand, saw a US$27 billion loss (S$36.2 billion) — which means unlike Musk, he still suffered an overall loss of US$1 billion (S$1.3 billion).

Why the pause?

Trump explained that he'd paused the tariffs because people were "getting a little yippy", CNN reported.

After the tariffs were announced, a number of billionaires openly criticised the president's tariff policy, warning of an economic fallout.

Billionaire investor Bill Ackman, who previously endorsed Trump, said that the tariffs would launch "an economic nuclear war".

Even Musk, one of Trump's most vocal allies, admitted that he hoped for "a zero-tariff situation" between Europe and the U.S., according to CNN.

Financial titans also set up private meetings and phone calls in hopes of getting through to Trump.

But when a rumour emerged that Trump would pause the tariffs, the White House denied it, causing the stock market to swing back and forth between losses and gains, the New York Times reported.

Top image from Donald Trump/Instagram and Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images