TACO Trump?

President Donald Trump pushed back sharply on Wednesday when questioned about a new term circulating on Wall Street that criticizes his pattern of backing off aggressive tariff threats. The term “TACO trade,” short for “Trump Always Chickens Out” was coined by a Financial Times columnist and has gained traction among investors who have grown skeptical of Trump’s follow-through on trade threats.

When a reporter brought it up during an Oval Office appearance, Trump immediately dismissed the label and bristled at the question. “I’ve never heard that,” he said. “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?” He pointed to similar moments with the European Union, saying, “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?”

Trump defended his tariff threats as part of a broader negotiation strategy, citing investment commitments from Middle Eastern nations as evidence that his unpredictable approach yields results. “But don’t ever say what you said,” he told the reporter. “That’s a nasty question. To me, that’s the nastiest question.”

The question touched a nerve as Trump has faced mounting criticism for frequently issuing bold tariff threats only to backtrack days later. In early February, he floated tariffs on Mexico and Canada but ultimately postponed them. In April, he announced sweeping reciprocal tariffs on dozens of countries, only to reduce them and implement a 90-day delay a week later. Just last week, he announced a 50 percent tariff on the European Union, which was quickly postponed until July 9 to allow time for negotiations.

White House officials have defended the strategy, saying it is meant to draw countries into talks and secure better trade deals. But among investors and economists, the repeated cycle of threats and retreats has created a sense of predictability so much so that the market now tends to assume Trump will soften his stance. That assumption has fueled the emergence of the “TACO trade,” which some say reflects the new reality of tariff brinkmanship in Trump’s economic playbook.

Despite growing skepticism from financial circles, Trump remains defiant. He continues to insist that the fluid, high-pressure style of negotiation is part of a larger plan to force concessions from trade partners. Still, with each retreat, critics are becoming louder, and the perception that the president’s threats are more show than substance is proving harder to shake.