‘That’s the nastiest question’: Trump gets testy about his Wall Street nickname

A new Wall Street nickname for President Donald Trump made him upset at a recent news briefing.

The nickname, “TACO” short for “Trump always chickens out,” was coined by the Financial Times and has been used by Wall Street investors to describe his tariff threats, the reporter told Trump at the White House on Wednesday.

“They’re saying Trump always chickens out on your tariff threats and that’s why markets are higher this week,” the reporter told Trump. “What’s your response to that?”

Trump claimed he had never heard the nickname before, then defended his tariff strategy by stating he had reduced China’s tariffs from what he asserted was 145% to 100% “and then down to another number.” He then announced plans to place a 50% tariff on goods from the European Union.

Such a 50% tariff on the E.U. could inflict “severe economic damage to Europe and the United States,” the New York Times reported.

Carsten Brzeski, chief eurozone economist at ING, a Dutch Bank, told the Times that these tariff levels could lead to higher inflation and slower growth in the United States, potentially pushing Europe “into a recession” and causing global growth to fall.

Despite threatening this tariff, Trump said during the White House conference that he plans to meet with E.U. officials by July 9.

“You call that chickening out?,” the president said.

Trump then criticized former President Joe Biden, claiming the country was “dying” under him.

“But don’t ever say what you said. That’s a nasty question,” Trump told the reporter. “To me, that’s the nastiest question.”

Trump then denied that his shift on tariffs might draw criticism.

“The sad thing is, now, when I make a deal with them, it’s something much more reasonable, they’ll say, ‘Oh, he was chicken, he was chicken,” the president said. “That’s so unbelievable.”