Wall Street Calls It ‘TACO’—and Trump’s Not Lovin’ It

Wall Street has coined a new acronym to describe Donald Trump’s trade policy flip-flops—and the former president is clearly not amused. The term making the rounds among traders? TACO, short for “Trump Always Chickens Out.”

The nickname reflects a pattern markets have come to expect: Trump threatens stiff tariffs, financial markets react, and then—more often than not—he backs down. For savvy investors, these “TACO” moments have become opportunities to profit from the volatility.

But when asked about the nickname during an Oval Office press conference, Trump didn’t take it lightly.

“Don’t ever say what you say, that’s a nasty question,” he snapped at a reporter. “To me that’s the nastiest question.”

Trump insisted his trade strategy is more about toughness than retreat, arguing he’s often accused of being too aggressive, not soft.

“They will say, ‘Oh, he was chicken, he was chicken,’ that’s so unbelievable,” Trump said, defending his decision to delay tariffs on the European Union. “I usually have the opposite problem — they say you’re too tough!”

Markets Ride the TACO Wave

The phrase “TACO” was first coined by the Financial Times, and it’s quickly become Wall Street slang for a familiar Trump tactic: talk tough on tariffs, spook the markets, then backpedal before real damage is done.

Take his “Liberation Day” tariff blitz, for example. Trump initially declared sweeping global tariffs, only to scale them back to a modest 10 percent within a week.

His retaliatory tariffs on China followed a similar arc—announced at a dramatic 145 percent, but ultimately trimmed to the same 10 percent baseline after both nations reached a deal.

More recently, Trump floated a 50 percent tariff on European Union goods, only to reverse course days later by pushing the decision deadline to July.

The Bottom Line

While Trump may bristle at being called out, Wall Street has learned to read between the lines. His dramatic tariff threats often end in de-escalation, giving traders a roadmap for short-term gains in uncertain times. Whether it’s called strategy or backpedaling, “TACO” has stuck—and markets are eating it up.