President Donald Trump didn’t take kindly to a question Wednesday about a new Wall Street term mocking his trade tactics. In a tense moment at the White House, Trump snapped at a reporter who brought up the so-called “TACO trade,” an acronym for “Trump Always Chickens Out.”
“I’ve never heard that,” Trump shot back from the Oval Office. “You mean because I reduced China from 145 percent that I set down to 100, and then down to another number, and I said you have to open up your whole country?”
Trump, visibly annoyed, pushed back hard: “And because I gave the European Union a 50 percent tariff and they called up and said, ‘Please let’s meet right now.’ You call that chickening out?”
He wasn’t done. “But don’t ever say what you said,” Trump told the reporter directly. “That’s a nasty question. To me, that’s the nastiest question.”
The term “TACO trade” was coined by a Financial Times columnist and has started catching on among traders. It’s a jab at Trump’s habit of making big tariff threats, only to backtrack soon after. Investors have noticed — and they’re betting on it.
Over the past few months, Trump has repeatedly promised tough tariffs, only to ease up later. In February, he threatened tariffs on Mexico and Canada — then delayed. In April, he slapped dozens of countries with “reciprocal” tariffs — only to pull them back to 10 percent a week later. Just last week, he vowed a 50 percent tariff on the European Union by June, only to postpone them again, this time to July 9.
Trump, though, says it’s all part of the plan. He pointed to Middle Eastern countries pledging “trillions of dollars” in investments and claimed his unpredictable approach forces other countries to the negotiating table.
Critics call it chaos. The president calls it strategy. But when it comes to the TACO label, Trump’s message was clear: He’s not laughing.
“That’s a nasty question,” he repeated.
Watch the clip below:
A reporter just questioned President Trump about the so-called TACO trade. It stands for Trump Always Chickens Out.
The idea is gaining traction on Wall Street. Traders buy stocks after tariff threats, assuming Trump will back down and the market will bounce.
Here’s what he had… pic.twitter.com/9AuOwZeuWD
— Alpha Ticker (@AlphaTickerX) May 28, 2025
