On Wednesday, President Donald Trump addressed criticism regarding his inconsistent approach to tariffs, which has been mockingly labeled as the “TACO trade.” This acronym, introduced by a Financial Times columnist, stands for “Trump Always Chickens Out.” It characterizes Trump’s pattern of imposing heavy tariffs that initially panic the markets, only to later backtrack, leading to a recovery in stock prices.
Responding to inquiries from Finance Newso at the White House, Trump refuted the notion that he had ever retreated from his tariff plans. He argued that his strategies have bolstered U.S. leverage in international trade discussions. “After I did what I did, they said, ‘We’ll meet anytime you want,'” he stated, referring to recent tariff threats aimed at the European Union, which included a proposed 50% tariff—shortly before he announced a delay on implementing that levy.
“You call that chickening out?” Trump questioned, asserting that what he is doing is fundamentally negotiation, dismissing the line of questioning as “nasty.”
The financial markets experienced a decline on Friday after Trump reiterated his call for a steep tariff on the EU effective June 1. However, following a request from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for an extension, Trump pushed back the deadline to July 9.
The next trading session on Tuesday saw a significant rise in stock prices across major indexes, which Trump attributed to the tariff threat fostering renewed trade talks between the U.S. and the EU. “The sad thing is, now, when I make a deal with them, it’s something much more reasonable, they’ll say, ‘Oh, he was chicken, he was chicken,'” he remarked, expressing disbelief at the expected criticism.
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— Finance Newso’s Laya Neelakandan contributed to this report.
