Wall Street’s Newest Buzzword: TACO
In the grand theatre of Wall Street, a new star has emerged, and no, it’s not a hot new tech stock—it’s TACO. No, not the crunchy kind you devour at 2 AM after a long night; this TACO stands for “Trump Always Chickens Out.” Coined by Financial Times columnist Robert Armstrong, this term is a tongue-in-cheek jab at U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade policy flip-flops.
Picture this: Trump announces sky-high tariffs one day, only to retreat faster than a kid caught stealing cookies when the market throws a tantrum. The most recent display of this delightful dance was on May 26, when he postponed a whopping 50% tariff on European imports. Just a fortnight earlier, on May 12, he hit the brakes on a proposed 145% tariff for Chinese goods after witnessing the world’s economic pulse speed up in panic. Talk about a sudden change of heart!
This newfound phrase even crashed a press conference at the White House—what a plot twist! “You call that chickening out?” Trump shot back when a reporter dared to bring TACO into the fold. “It’s called negotiation,” he argued, like a parent explaining why broccoli is good for you. Not surprisingly, the President wasn’t amused, labeling the question as “nasty.”
In an interview with As It Happens host Nil Köksal, Armstrong revealed how TACO came to be, sounding slightly perplexed that his brainchild made it to the Oval Office. “It’s not the dream; it’s the nightmare,” he quipped. Better that Trump pulls back from his dubious tariffs than fully commits. And yet, there’s that lingering fear: now that Trump knows about TACO, will he stop “chickening out”? The very thing Armstrong doesn’t wish for seems more likely with each tweet!
How did it all begin, you ask? Well, if you write a daily newsletter for the Financial Times, you keep observing the bizarre spectacle of Trump making grandiose tariff threats, only to retreat like a marathon runner caught in a thunderstorm. After witnessing this circus of concessions several times, Armstrong needed a catchy term. TACO popped up because, let’s be honest, who doesn’t get hungry while contemplating trade wars?
When asked how Trump defends his strategy, Armstrong pointed out the classic negotiation principle: start high, negotiate low. However, the bizarre twist with Trump is that he gives away his best cards before the game starts, leaving everyone puzzled. “It’s like he wilts under the slightest pressure,” Armstrong noted, showcasing that shiny irony—Trump appears tough for the cameras but crumbles faster than a cookie in milk under real pressure.
There’s a juicy irony at play here: Trump’s ongoing legal battles over tariffs could actually turn out to be politically beneficial for him. If by some miracle, a court decides to block these tariffs, he gets to play the victim. “I was ready to save the economy with these marvelous tariffs, but those woke judges stopped me!” He gets to remain the hero of his story, while the potential financial disaster is just chalked up to “bad luck.” Well played, Mr. President, well played.
