# Taco Trump Always Chickens Out Taco Trump Always Chickens Out is a Wall Street shorthand and political meme built on the acronym TACO, describing President Donald Trump's pattern of announcing steep tariffs and then delaying or reversing them once markets react. The term was coined by Financial Times columnist Robert Armstrong in May 2025 and blew up online after Trump snapped at a reporter who asked him about it. ## Overview Taco Trump Always Chickens Out, usually shortened to the TACO trade, is a piece of Wall Street slang that turned into a political meme in the spring of 2025. The acronym stands for Trump Always Chickens Out and describes President Donald Trump's habit of announcing aggressive tariffs and then delaying or repealing them once stocks sell off[1]. Traders started treating each tariff threat as a likely buying opportunity, on the theory that Trump would blink before markets stayed down for long[3]. Once the term escaped finance Twitter and reached mainstream news coverage, it fused with unrelated Trump moments, including a stair stumble on Air Force One, and generated image edits like the reworked Taco Bell logo reading 'Taco Fell'[2]. ## How It Spread The acronym spread through financial media over the following weeks. FT foreign affairs commentator Gideon Rachman used it in a May 12, 2025 tweet, calling it Armstrong's 'infallible Taco rule' after another tariff reversal[3]. On May 17, FT writer Katie Martin published 'The Taco factor has spurred markets higher,' arguing that TACO expectations were fueling a shaky rally[3]. Trump threatened the EU with a 50 percent tariff on May 23 via Truth Social, then delayed it to July 9 in a May 25 post, which traders pointed to as another textbook TACO episode[3]. The meme broke out on May 28, 2025, when CNBC reporter Mary Cassella asked Trump about the term at a press event. He grew visibly annoyed, at first mishearing it as 'kick out' before defending his tariff strategy[3]. A clip posted by X user @Acyn pulled over 2.4 million views in a day[3]. Follow-up edits from @GalaxyPeaBrain (pairing Trump with Griffith from Berserk over a red stock chart) and @jdcmedlock (with a fake Warren Buffett panic-sell quote) each cleared tens of thousands of likes the same day[3]. The joke folded in a second moment on June 8, 2025, when Trump briefly stumbled climbing the steps of Air Force One in Morristown, New Jersey, alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who also appeared to trip[2]. Coverage drew comparisons to former President Joe Biden's 2021 stair trip, which Trump allies had used in campaign ads[2]. An edited Taco Bell logo reading 'Taco Fell' surfaced on Imgur the next day from user defrostedtauntaun, pulling 760 upvotes in under a day, and was reposted on r/politicalhumor, Instagram, and Facebook[3]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Taco Trump Always Chickens Out? It is a slang acronym used by Wall Street traders and online meme accounts to describe Trump's habit of walking back tariff threats after markets sell off[1]. ### Where did Taco Trump Always Chickens Out come from? Financial Times columnist Robert Armstrong coined TACO in a May 2, 2025 article about the market rebound from Trump's April 2025 reciprocal tariff shock[1]. ### What does Taco Trump Always Chickens Out mean? It captures the trading theory that Trump reliably softens or delays tariff policies once stocks fall, letting traders buy dips at a profit[3]. ### How do you use Taco Trump Always Chickens Out? People typically post the phrase after Trump reverses a tariff threat, often paired with stock charts or edits like the 'Taco Fell' Taco Bell logo remix on Imgur[3]. ### Is Taco Trump Always Chickens Out still popular? The term peaked in late May and early June 2025 after Trump's on-camera reaction to the CNBC question and the Air Force One stumble spawned follow-up memes[2]. ## References 1. [https://www.ft.com/content/09727ad0-c187-4b7d-857b-4b26a5b9c4c1]() 2. [https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/06/09/trump-air-force-one-stumble/84111744007/]() 3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/taco-trump-always-chickens-out]() 4. [https://www.ft.com/content/taco-factor-katie-martin]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/taco-trump-always-chickens-out Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library