Overview

• The U.S. Court of International Trade halted most of Trump’s April tariffs on authority grounds, prompting an appeal by the administration that has temporarily paused the block and set briefs through June 9.
• Financial Times columnist Robert Armstrong popularized “TACO”—Trump Always Chickens Out—to describe the president’s pattern of announcing high tariffs then retracting or delaying them.
• Investors have embraced the “TACO trade” strategy to profit from stock rebounds after his tariff pullbacks, reflecting significant market volatility since April.
• Social media and outlets like the Drudge Report have fueled a meme frenzy with AI-generated “Taco King” images ridiculing Trump’s flip-flops on import levies.
• Trump has defended his tariff adjustments as strategic negotiations, while White House officials and allies argue that the TACO label unfairly undermines successful talks that opened foreign markets.