President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he is not planning to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and that the level of tariffs on Chinese goods could come down. His Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also signaled that tariffs on Chinese goods could be lowered.

“I would like to see him be a little more active in terms of his idea to lower interest rates…but, no, I have no intention to fire him,” Trump said of Powell during an informal meeting with reporters at the White House.

Trump also said that tariffs on Chinese imports that he had imposed would “come down substantially, but it won’t be zero,” according to reporting from the BBC.

Trump’s Tuesday comments about the Fed chair were strikingly different from his social-media rant early Monday morning in which he criticized Powell as being “Mr. Too Late” and “a major loser,” according to reports in the Wall Street Journal. Trump demanded that Powell lower interest rates immediately, maintaining “there is virtually no inflation.”

About a week ago, Trump said that Powell’s “termination cannot come fast enough.”

The surprising turnaround in attitude may be tied to the stock and bond markets, which have been gyrating wildly in recent weeks due to general economic uncertainty and worries about the ongoing trade war. Economists and traders worry that firing Powell could undermine trust in the central bank and cause the markets to crash.

On Monday after Trump attacked Powell, the market fell sharply, with The Dow Jones Industrial Average declining nearly 1,000 points. On Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Bessent hinted that there was the possibility of “de-escalation” in the trade war with China. The news sent the stock market rocketing upward, with the Dow rising more than 1,000 points.

Trump’s change in attitude about Powell came later on Tuesday and may have helped Dow futures rise 664 points in the evening.  

While the campaign to force Powell out of his leadership position at the Fed may be on hold for now, his problems are far from behind him. The Wall Street Journal has speculated that Trump may now blame Powell and the Federal Reserve for any future economic weakness that results from his trade war if the central bank doesn’t cut interest rates soon.