Democrat leaders are demanding an investigation into whether Donald Trump engaged in insider trading in the hours before he announced a reversal of his tariff policy.

On Wednesday afternoon, the US president paused his “reciprocal” tariffs for the next 90 days on all countries except China.

The S&P 500, which groups the largest companies in the United States, soared by more than nine per cent following the news.

“THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY,” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social at 9:37am in the morning.