The full form of TACO? Trump Always Chickens Out.
The new term for the US President was Armstrong’s way of describing Trump’s tariff policies that have rattled global markets, created a wave of uncertainty, and were eventually termed by a US trade court as illegal, paving the way for a prolonged court battle.
Armstrong mentioned that Trump has a habit of announcing a new tariff policy, which takes the markets lower, and then backs out of those, leading to a rebound in the markets, and hence the TACO terminology.
Taco, Taco Man… I wanna be a Taco Man pic.twitter.com/VmZ0qa5c1c
— Mister Race Bannon (@MrRaceBannon) May 28, 2025
On April 2, US President Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs on at least 60 countries, including those with no human population, which sent global equity markets into a tizzy. The move led to the S&P 500 losing over $6 trillion in market capitaisation over two days.
In just a week, Trump announced a 90-day pause on the tariffs for allowing a window to negotiate with countries. However, after nearly 50 days of the tariff announcement, there has been no definitive deals announced, other than a broad outline with the UK, and a temporary truce with China.
US equities have recovered all of their losses since the Liberation Day announcements and have even turned positive on a year-to-date basis.
A CNBC reporter did ask the President about the new terminology, to which the President said that this is not called ‘Chickening Out’, but the art of negotiating a deal.
Trump highlighted how the European Union was unwilling to meet for negotiations but the moment he made his 50% tariff announcement from June 1, they approached him for a meeting date to negotiate a deal.
“You call that chickening out? Don’t ever say what you said,” Trump said.
First Published: May 29, 2025 9:20 AM IST
