Stocks skyrocketed Wednesday after President Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause on many of the wide-ranging tariffs that had been imposed just hours earlier.

The U.S. and China have escalated trade war by raising tariffs even as Trump hit a pause on tariffs for other countries.

Donald Trump announced a massive tariff plan last week that would have upended the global economic order as well as long-established trading relationships with America's allies. But that plan - or at least a significant part of is - is on ice after the president suspended higher tariffs on most countries for 90 days while leaning into a trade war with China.

In the aftermath of Wednesday’s tariff whiplash, President Trump is deciding exactly what he wants out of trade talks with as many as 75 nations.

President Donald Trump said Wednesday he will pause reciprocal tariffs for 90 days to more than 75 U.S. trading partners except for China, whose tariff rate he said will increase to 125%, effective immediately.

Trump defended the tariffs he imposed on other nations but acknowledged some problems with the rollout in a meeting with his Cabinet, "but in the end it's going to be a beautiful thing." Meanwhile, the White House raised the tariffs on all Chinese exports to 125% after Beijing's latest round of retaliation -- that's in addition to the 20% fentanyl-related tariffs imposed in early February,

President Donald Trump held a Cabinet meeting at the White House, where he brushed off the day's downturn in the markets.