Overview

• Financial Times columnist Robert Armstrong coined the acronym TACO in early May to describe Trump’s pattern of announcing steep tariffs and then reversing course.
• Traders have turned the so-called TACO trade into a strategy, buying market dips on the expectation that Trump will chicken out and markets will rebound.
• When asked about the label on May 28, Trump bristled at being called a chicken and defended his tariff rollbacks as part of negotiation tactics.
• The nickname has gone viral on social media through memes and AI-generated images, and some analysts warn it may prompt Trump to uphold tariffs out of defiance.
• On June 3, the Democratic National Committee parked a taco truck outside the Republican National Committee’s D.C. headquarters to drive home the 'Trump Always Chickens Out' jibe.