Taco Trump? It’s traders who are chickening out now

One acronym has epitomised investors’ perception of US President Donald Trump’s resolve in following through on his threats to impose sky-high tariffs on America’s trading partners. On May 2 last year, Financial Times commentator Robert Armstrong came up with “Taco”, which stands for “Trump always chickens out”. This was meant to describe the sharp rally in stock markets following Trump’s decision in April to suspend his “reciprocal” tariffs. Further climbdowns, albeit partial ones, convinced...