Trump reveals his tariff endgame in bombshell post as Warren Buffett is forced to issue extraordinary denial

Donald Trump has revealed he is deliberately tanking the stock market with his tariff agenda by re-sharing a video which outlined the plan.

The fan-made clip claimed that the president is hoping the move will force the Federal Reserve to slash interest rates and allow it to cheaply refinance trillions of US loan debts.

Describing the action as a 'genius chess move', the video states that Trump will crash the stock market by 20% this month. 

However, the video falsely claimed the controversial tactic has the support of Warren Buffet.

The investor then put out a statement via Berkshire Hathaway later Friday denying the claims. The video has also since received a community note on Twitter adding this context.

'There are reports currently circulating on social media (including Twitter, Facebook and Tik Tok) regarding comments allegedly made by Warren E. Buffett. All such reports are false,' the statement read.

Buffett - long a skeptic of tariffs - told CNBC that he would not make a public statement on the agenda until Berkshire’s annual meeting on May 3.

The president has been on the attack ever since Wednesday's 'Liberation Day' event announcing the tariffs, which have sent Wall Street to its worst two-day wipeout in history - with $6.6 trillion wiped off the value of US stocks. 

Trump's own post goes against what he said earlier Friday when Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell criticized the tariffs, with Trump using them to try and force an interest rate cut. 

In a dismal forecast Powell said: 'We face a highly uncertain outlook with elevated risks of both higher unemployment and higher inflation.'

Trump wrote on social media: 'Cut interest rates, Jerome, and stop playing politics!' 

He added: 'This would be a PERFECT time for Fed Chairman Jerome Powell to cut Interest Rates. He is always “late,” but he could now change his image, and quickly. Energy prices are down, Interest Rates are down, Inflation is down, even Eggs are down 69%, and Jobs are UP, all within two months - A BIG WIN for America.'

It came as the odds of a U.S. recession this year skyrocketed above 60 percent, according to the prediction market Kalshi.

Trump's press secretary Karoline Leavitt said: 'To anyone on Wall Street this morning, I would say trust in President Trump.' 

Meanwhile, China is retaliating against the United States in a sign of trade war escalation.

After plunging Thursday, stocks crashed again on Friday as it looks increasingly likely that President Donald Trump's tariffs will cause a global recession.

US stocks have lost about $11.1 trillion in value since January 17 — the Friday before President Trump began his second term, according to MarketWatch analysis Dow Jones Market Data. 

About $6.6 trillion of that was wiped out on Thursday and Friday alone — marking the biggest two-day loss of shareholder value ever recorded, according to the data. 

Markets have seen bigger percentage drops, such as in 1929 when they tumbled 25 percent over October 28 and 29 that year, but never as much in dollar terms. 

This week's carnage has hit ordinary Americans whose retirement savings, including 401(K) are tied to the market. 

When markets closed in New York at 4pm, the S&P 500 was down 5.97 percent. The Nasdaq plummeted 5.82 percent and The Dow Jones 5.5 percent. 

That follows Thursday's losses for the three major US indices, which ranged between 4 percent and 6 percent. The S&P 500 had its worst since March 2020, when the pandemic crashed the economy. 

Friday's selloff came after China imposed fresh tariffs on all US goods overnight, retaliating against President Trump's sweeping levies announced Wednesday and further escalating a global trade war. 

Despite the carnage, panicking Americans checking their 401(K)s, IRAs and trading apps were advised to sit tight for now and not panic sell. They should speak to the experts managing their investments and seek out a financial advisor if they do not have one.

Some experts say it will be short term pain and stocks will recover. Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary thinks Trump has a solid plan.

So far there have been few, if any, winners in financial markets from the trade war. Stocks for all but 12 of the 500 companies that make up the S&P 500 index fell Friday. 

Oil prices fell as much as 8 percent, a sign that investors believe shipping between America and the rest of the world will soon shut down. 

Even gold, a traditional safe haven that recently hit record highs, pulled lower. 

'The world has changed, and the economic conditions have changed,' said Rick Rieder, chief investment officer of global fixed income at BlackRock.

The central question looking ahead is: Will the trade war cause a global recession? If it does, stock prices will likely come down even more than they have already. The S&P 500 is down 17.4 percent from its record set in February.

The tariffs have sent shockwaves through global financial markets, raising fears of a worldwide economic downturn and sharp price hikes across sectors in the world's biggest consumer market.

'The Trump administration may be playing a game of chicken with trading partners, but market participants aren't willing to wait around for the results,' Michael Arone, investment expert at State Street Global Advisors said.

'Investors are selling first and asking questions later.' 

Trump's 'baseline' 10 percent tariff on goods imported from around the world is due to come into effect shortly in the early hours of Saturday. 

Many other countries will see their tariff rates increase above that next week – including the EU at 20 percent and China at 34 percent. A 25 percent tariff imposed on all foreign cars imported into the US came into effect on Thursday.

China's finance ministry said it would impose a matching  34 percent tariff on all US goods from April 10.

The tariffs have sent shockwaves through global financial markets, raising fears of a worldwide economic downturn and sharp price hikes across sectors in the world's biggest consumer market. 

One bright spot Friday was a surprisingly strong jobs report. The US added 228,000 jobs last month.