Delta Air Lines said that President Donald Trump's tariffs had thrown a wrench into its business plan for 2025, with them slowing demand growth and forcing it to delay new-plane purchases.

Just a few hours later, the airline's stock soared as much as 20% as the tariffs were put on pause, as a wild day on Wall Street took hold.

"With broad economic uncertainty around global trade, growth has largely stalled," CEO Ed Bastian said early Wednesday morning alongside the airline's first-quarter earnings. It retracted its previous financial performance guidance for this year.

"In this slower-growth environment, we are protecting margins and cash flow by focusing on what we can control," he added.

Delta is reining in costs and capacity during uncertain times

As well as managing costs and capital spending, Delta has decided not to expand its capacity in the second half of the year, it said. The airline previously planned to grow capacity by about 4%.

Bastian told CNBC the airline also had to deal with "a really tough weather month in January" and the impact of high-profile crashes .

Delta reported earnings per share of $0.46, beating analyst expectations. Its stock price rose slightly in early trading Wednesday before exploding higher by more than 18% alongside broader indexes after Trump announced a 90-day pause for most planned tariffs .

The airline expects things to improve in the next quarter, with earnings per share between $1.70 and $2.30 and an operating margin between 11% and 14%.

It said total revenue compared with last year could fall 2% or rise up to 2%.

"We're in uncharted, unprecedented uncertainty when you look at what's happened and the pivot so quickly to this self-inflicted situation," Bastian said of the tariffs in the CNBC interview.

"I think we're acting as if we're going to a recession," he added. "I think everyone is going into a defensive posture."

Airline stocks have been sinking since late February on concerns about demand falling because of economic uncertainty.

Delta won't buy new planes with tariffs

Bastian said on an earnings conference call that Delta would not pay for tariffs on new Airbus airplanes.

"One thing you need to know we're very clear on is that we will not be paying tariffs on any aircraft deliveries," Bastian said.