Overview

• Financial Times editorialist Robert Armstrong coined the “TACO trade” term to highlight Trump’s habit of reversing tariffs when markets tumble.
• Trump announced 50% duties on EU imports effective June 1 then suspended them until July 9 after stocks rebounded.
• At a May 28 press conference, Trump dismissed the ‘TACO trade’ nickname as baseless and defended the changes as negotiation.
• Steve Sosnick of Interactive Brokers and Sam Burns of Mill Street Research say markets now treat Trump’s trade threats as a bluff and view his policy stance as unreliable.
• John Hardy of Saxo Bank warns that despite U-turns, Trump’s underlying protectionist agenda still poses significant risks to global trade stability.