The point is he is covering his ass. He has no grand strategy. He got scared when the bond market started tanking. He apparently took his advisors and the GOP in Congress by complete surprise. But he had to find some cover. His Treasury Secretary said, oh yeah, Trump said that (the tariff pause) Sunday, but then Trump showed that was a lie when he said the part out loud yesterday that he got spooked by the bond market. So Trump himself undermined the whole WH argument by his Treasury Secretary and the Press Secretary that the pause was planned from the start. He admitted it was a total seat of the pants, panic move in response to the bond market tanking.
Trump acknowledged he could cause a recession, but just didn’t want a depression, according to WSJ
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/10/trump-acknowledged-he-could-cause-a-recession-but-just-didnt-want-a-depression-according-to-wsj.html