In early April 2025, a rumor began to spread that U.S. President Donald Trump had backed down on tariffs because Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney forced his hand by orchestrating a collective sale of U.S. bonds.
It is true that Trump paused tariffs after the price of U.S. Treasurys began to drop at the same time as the price of U.S. stocks plummeted, an event known as a synchronized sell-off. In fact, after he announced the pause, Trump said, “bond markets are tricky.”
However, the claim that Carney had orchestrated the bond sell-off alongside the European Union and Japan was not confirmed. It came from the newsletter of Dean Blundell, a staunch supporter of Carney in Canada’s next federal election and a former “shock jock.”
Snopes has contacted Blundell, asking him to explain how he came upon this story and to clarify some points from his allegations.
Snopes also contacted Carney’s office asking for confirmation of Blundell’s claims. Lastly, we have reached out to several fixed income analysts to inquire about the plausibility of such a scheme.
Pure, unsourced conjecture.