By Katherine Tinsley
2:45am PDT, May 30, 2025
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Donald Trump lost his temper after a reporter asked about his evolving stance on tariffs during an Oval Office press gathering on Wednesday, May 28.
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"Mr. President, Wall Street analysts have coined a new term called the TACO trade. They're saying 'Trump always chickens out' on your tariff threats. And that's why markets are higher this week. What's your response to that?" CNBC White House correspondent Megan Casella asked Donald Trump, according to the New York Post.
The president was seemingly annoyed by Casella's question.
"Oh, isn't that nice. Chicken out. I've never heard that," Trump replied. "You mean because I reduced China from 145 percent that I set down to 100 and then down to another number. I said you have to open your whole country."
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Donald Trump promised to use tariffs to bring opportunities and capital back into the U.S., but his strategy has been greatly criticized by economists.
"And because I gave the European Union a 50 percent tariff and they called up and they said, 'Please let's meet right now,'" Trump continued. "And I said, 'I'll give you until July' … you call that chickening out?"
"Six months ago, this country was stone-cold dead," the president later said. "People didn't think it would survive, and you ask a nasty question like that. It's called negotiation … Don't ever say what you said. That's a nasty question."
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Donald Trump later threw jabs at Joe Biden and his administration while discussing his economic plan.
"We have $14 trillion committed to investing when Biden didn't have practically anything — this country was dying," Trump declared. "You know, we have the hottest country anywhere in the world.
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Earlier this month, Donald Trump traveled to Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar, where he secured the largest arms deal in history while in the Middle East.
"I went to Saudi Arabia. The king told me, he said, 'You have the hottest country in the world right now,'" Trump added of what went down during the meetings.
