Trump sends tariff rate letters and pushes Liberation Day deadline. What does TACO mean?
- President Trump delayed the implementation of increased tariffs, originally set for July 9, to August 1.
- This delay has revived discussion of "TACO trade," a term suggesting investors anticipate market rebounds following Trump's tariff announcements.
- Trump has sent letters notifying leaders in Brazil, Indonesia and many other countries of the tariff rates on their countries' goods.
President Donald Trump on April 2 announced widespread tariffs in what he called "Liberation Day." Shortly after, he paused the climbing rates for 90 days.
That pause was set to expire on July 9, but instead of the tariffs going into effect, Trump extended the deadline and sent a series of letters to international leaders, issuing new tariff rates on goods from their countries.
The tariffs announced in the letters are now set to go into effect on Aug. 1, and Trump said that date will not change. Trump's letters warned that if the recipients raised their tariffs, the U.S. would retaliate with its own rate hikes.
After the first pause, the administration predicted new trade deals would be achieved quickly, though it has struggled to lock in those deals except for a few countries. The White House rejected the notion that the delay was due to the challenge.
But this isn't the first time a deadline for tariffs has moved since Trump took office. The recent deadline delay has brought back talk of TACOS. How did we get here?
What does TACO mean?
Financial Times columnist Robert Armstrong coined "TACO trade" in May, describing how some investors anticipate market rebounds amid Trump's on-again, off-again tariff policies.
The acronym stands for "Trump always chickens out."
Armstrong describes TACO trade as many investors' strategy to buy into the market that dips when Trump announces steep tariffs on the assumption that he will back off his tariff order, and the market will rebound.
Trump hit back at a reporter who asked about the term on May 28, saying, "you ask a nasty question like that. It's called negotiation."
What countries received letters announcing upcoming tariff rates?
As of July 10, the following countries have been sent letters announcing their new tariff rates. In many cases, the tariff rate is the closest to the "reciprocal" tariff rate that was announced on Liberation Day. The White House has said more letters will come out over the next few weeks:
- Brazil - 50%
- Malaysia - 25%
- Tunisia - 25%
- Kazakhstan - 25%
- South Africa - 30%
- Laos - 40%
- Myanmar - 40%
- Cambodia - 36%
- Thailand - 36%
- Serbia - 35%
- Bangladesh - 35%
- Indonesia - 32%
- Bosnia and Herzegovina - 30%
- Japan - 25%
- South Korea - 25%
- Libya - 30%
- Sri Lanka - 30%
- Iraq - 30%
- Algeria - 30%
- Moldova - 25%
- Brunei - 25%
- Philippines - 20%
Importers have been paying the 10% baseline tariffs on goods from about 180 countries, and the delay applied only to the higher reciprocal tariffs targeting a smaller subset of countries.
Contributing: Francesca Chambers, Joey Garrison, Paste BN
Kinsey Crowley is the Trump Connect reporter for the Paste BN Network. Reach her at kcrowley@gannett.com. Follow her on X and TikTok @kinseycrowley or Bluesky at @kinseycrowley.bsky.social.