Over the past few hours, some investment groups have been wildly sharing a “breaking” news post:

It claims that Trump will give an emergency nationwide speech on the evening of July 17, imposing a comprehensive blockade against China—permanent chip supply cutoffs, 100% tariffs, and a six-month shutdown and clearance of manufacturing…—interpreted as a decision that fully decouples China-U.S. economic and trade ties.

It also says the headlines were signed with Reuters, Bloomberg, the WaPo, and CNBC exclusive breaking news at the same time?

The editor checked these four media outlets one by one.

First, the speech does indeed exist, but it has already ended. At 9:00 p.m. on July 16 in U.S. Eastern Time—this morning in Beijing time—the content was Trump promoting an election reform bill. It mentioned nothing about chips or tariffs.

Second, the exact wording of Reuters’ preview before the speech was “may discuss China,” which was in the context of election interference.

When it spread to social media, it became “China is the core”; when it entered Chinese internet circles, it turned into “major policy toward China”; and when it reached investment groups, it turned into “chips completely decoupled,” triggering panic…

Obviously, when everyone is already losing money, any message that comes out feels like a startled bird, accelerating panic and worry.