Trump Always Chickens Out
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Trump Always Chickens Out (TACO), also known as the TACO Trade, is an acronym that gained prominence in May 2025 after many threats and reversals during the trade war Donald Trump initiated with his administration's "Liberation Day" tariffs.[1] The acronym is used to describe Trump's tendency to make reciprocal tariff threats, only to later delay them as a way to increase time for negotiations and for markets to rebound.[1][2]
Origins
[edit]The term was first used by Financial Times journalist Robert Armstrong in a May 2, 2025 opinion piece that discussed tariffs and their effects on the US markets.[3] In the piece, part of a series titled "Unhedged", Armstrong said that markets were realizing that "the US administration does not have a very high tolerance for market and economic pressure, and will be quick to back off when tariffs cause pain". Armstrong called this "the Taco theory: Trump Always Chickens Out".[4][5]
Examples
[edit]Katie Martin of the Financial Times gave three recent examples of "the Taco factor" where Trump had reversed a decision in response to the market's reaction: Trump setting high tariffs on "Liberation Day tariffs" and pausing them a week later, his calling for the termination of Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell before distancing himself from the idea, and the US committing to roll back tariffs against China during trade talks in May.[6] Another example is when Trump would delay his 50% tariff proposal affecting EU imports to July 9, this would later cause European markets to rally.[7][8]
Reactions
[edit]Donald Trump was asked what he thought about the term on May 28, 2025 during a swearing-in ceremony for the acting attorney general. He denied the behavior, saying "it's called negotiation". He called the question a "nasty question", adding "I usually have the opposite problem. They say I am too tough".[3][9]
Almost immediately after Trump's response the term started a trend of memes about Trump referencing the TACO acronym or the phrase directly. The memes often employed generative AI to produce artificial images and video of Trump in situations parodying the viral term.[10][11] Editorial cartoons would be created and would parody Trump's reaction to the term, frequently utilizing puns and exaggerated caricatures of Putin and Trump.[12]
The View hosts Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar and Ana Navarro praised the TACO phrase on their show. Navarro's analysis and discussion of the nickname with other cohosts included why they suspected the name gained traction and what led to the name's popularity, stating "For a nickname to be effective, there’s got to be truth to it, which this has: His trade policy is all over the place [...] And it’s got to get under the person’s skin, which it clearly did". Host Sara Haines noted Trump's common use of insulting nicknames for public figures he dislikes. Navarro also likened the trending nickname to "karma" for Trump's previous actions relating to Mexico in the beginning of his second term, including banning the Associated Press from White House press events due to their refusal to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the "Gulf of America".[13]
On June 3, 2025, a Tuesday, the Democratic National Committee parked a rented taco truck, customized with images of Trump wearing a chicken costume, outside the Republican National Committee headquarters, and distributed free tacos to passers-by "as an effective way to draw attention to Trump's tariff policies, which they described as "playing games with working families’ livelihoods.""[14][15] Vice President JD Vance criticised the opposition party as "lame," to which the DNC answered calling him "the cringiest VP in American history," and mentioning that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act is likely to "take away food from people." [16]
The term has been widely reported in the international press, with the phrase translated into Estonian (Trump lööb alati vedelaks),[17] French (Trump se dégonfle toujours),[18] German (Trump macht immer einen Rückzieher),[19] Norwegian (Trump trekker seg alltid),[20] Slovene (Trump se vedno ustraši),[21] Spanish (Trump siempre se acobarda),[22] and other languages.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b Breuninger, Kevin (May 28, 2025). "Trump says he's not 'chickening out' on trade: 'It's called negotiation'". CNBC. NBC News. Retrieved May 28, 2025.
- ^ Bigg, Matthew (May 29, 2025). "Asked About 'TACO' and Tariffs, Trump Lashes Out at Reporter". The New York Times. Retrieved May 29, 2025.
- ^ a b Picchi, Aimee (May 28, 2025). "Trump was asked about the "TACO" trade and called it a "nasty question." Here's what it means". CBSNews. Retrieved May 28, 2025.
- ^ Armstrong, Robert (May 2, 2025). "The US market's surprise comeback". FT.com. Financial Times. Archived from the original on May 2, 2025. Retrieved May 28, 2025.
- ^ Moyer, Janet H. Cho|Liz (May 28, 2025). "TACO Trade: What It Is and What It Means for Stocks". barrons. Retrieved May 29, 2025.
- ^ "The 'Taco' factor has spurred markets higher". Financial Times. May 17, 2025. Archived from the original on May 29, 2025. Retrieved May 31, 2025.
- ^ Karaian, Jason (May 29, 2025). "Stocks Rally on the 'TACO Trade'". The New York Times. Retrieved May 31, 2025.
- ^ "Trump delays EU tariffs until July 9, European markets rally". Reuters. May 26, 2025. Retrieved May 31, 2025.
- ^ Tomazin, Farrah (May 28, 2025). "Trump Melts Down at 'Why Do You Always Chicken Out' Question". The Daily Beast. Retrieved May 28, 2025.
- ^ "Tacos with Trump's face, chickens on his head: Internet explodes with memes on 'Trump Always Chickens Out'". The Economic Times. May 29, 2025. Retrieved May 29, 2025.
- ^ McFall, Marni (May 29, 2025). "TACO Trump Memes Explode Across Internet as President Mocked Over Tariffs". Newsweek. Retrieved May 29, 2025.
- ^ "Marching tacos spoil Donald Trump's birthday parade and more TACO editorial cartoons". The Week. June 2, 2025. Retrieved June 2, 2025.
- ^ Bell, Amanda (May 29, 2025). "'The View' Hosts Get Giddy Over Elon Musk Exit & Trump 'TACO' Nickname". TVInsider. Retrieved May 29, 2025.
- ^ Breanne Deppisch (June 3, 2025). "DNC trolls Trump on tariffs with free 'TACO' truck parked outside RNC headquarters". Fox News. Retrieved June 3, 2025.
- ^ 'TACO Tuesday': Democrats hand out free tacos to troll Trump over tariff jab (Internet video). MSNBC. June 3, 2025. Event occurs at 00:41 min. Retrieved June 3, 2025.
- ^ Elizabeth Crisp (June 3, 2025). "Vance knocks Democrats over taco truck outside GOP building". The Hill. Retrieved June 3, 2025.
- ^ Herkel, Andres (May 29, 2025). "Mängib tulega: Kas Putin vihastas Trumpi päriselt või lõi USA president jälle vedelaks?". Postimees. Retrieved June 4, 2025.
- ^ ""Trump se dégonfle toujours": d'où vient "Taco", le surnom de Donald Trump qui l'agace tant?". Le Parisien. May 30, 2025. Retrieved June 4, 2025.
- ^ Schmitz, David (May 30, 2025). ""TACO"-Meme kursiert in den USA – und versetzt Donald Trump in Rage". Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger. Retrieved June 4, 2025.
- ^ Aarstad Aase, Kari (May 30, 2025). ""Trump Always Chickens Out" - TACO-begrepet som irriterer presidenten". VG. Retrieved June 4, 2025.
- ^ Okorn, Tomaž (June 1, 2025). "TACO-trgovanje – Trump se vedno ustraši". RTV SLO. Retrieved June 4, 2025.
- ^ Val, Álvaro (May 29, 2025). "Qué significa la expresión TACO, la frase de moda en Wall Street que incomoda a Trump: "Me parece desagradable"". La Razón. Retrieved June 4, 2025.
