President Donald Trump received the “nastiest question” on Wednesday — according to him at least — when a reporter asked him for his response to the so-called “TACO” (Trump Always Chickens Out) trades being made on Wall Street as a result of the president’s tariff flip-flopping. 

The term was coined by Robert Armstrong of the Financial Times, who wrote earlier this month that recent rallies in the financial markets amid Trump’s chaotic economic policy have “a lot to do with markets realising that the [Trump] administration does not have a very high tolerance for market and economic pressure, and will be quick to back off when tariffs cause pain.” 

On Wednesday, Trump was asked for the first time for his response to the “TACO” theory, and he was not pleased. 

“Mr. President, Wall Street analysts have coined a new term called the ‘TACO’ trade. They’re saying Trump always chickens out, and that’s why markets are higher this week. What’s your response to that?” a reporter asked following the swearing-in ceremony of Interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Washington Jeanine Pirro, whom Trump plucked from Fox News to fill the role. 

“I chicken out? I’ve never heard that,” Trump responded. “Because I reduced China from 145 percent down to 100 and then down to another number?” Trump significantly reduced the potentially ruinous tariffs he had implemented against China after markets panicked and retailers warned of increased costs for consumers. Trump also paused his initial “Liberation Day” tariffs as the markets cratered. He threatened over the weekend to impose a 50-percent tariff on all goods from the European Union, and then backed off just days later.

Investors making TACO trades are buying after the markets crater in response to Trump announcing his latest absurdly high tariff on a key trading partner, and reaping the benefits when the markets rebound when Trump inevitably “chickens out” and walks back the tariff.

Trump continued his response to the question about the trades by rambling about the E.U., bashing former President Joe Biden, and touting recent meetings with Saudi Arabia, which he said called the U.S. “the hottest country.” 

“Six months ago, this country was stone cold, dead. We had a dead country. We had a country, people didn’t think it was going to survive,” Trump went on, growing angrier. “And you ask a nasty question like that. It’s called negotiation.” Trending Stories

“I think we really helped China tremendously, because they were having great difficulty — because we were basically going cold turkey with China,” the president said. “We were doing no business because of the tariff, because it was so high. But I knew that. But don’t ever say what you said. That’s a nasty question.” 

Before moving on to the next reporter, the president once again called the question about TACO trades “the nastiest question.” If that were actually the case, the White House press corps should really step up their game.