President Donald Trump snapped at a reporter during a live press conference on Wednesday, May 28.
The reporter asked if he had a response to some Wall Street analysts dubbing his tariff plan “TACO trade,” which stands for “Trump Always Chickens Out.”
“Don’t ever say what you said,” the president fired back. “That’s a nasty question.”

President Donald Trump’s temper flared while talking with the press at the White House on Wednesday, May 28.

During a live press conference, the president fielded questions from the press corps, beginning with a female reporter who asked Trump about the new nickname his tariff plan has reportedly been given on Wall Street: “TACO trade.”

“They’re saying ‘Trump Always Chickens Out’ on the tariff threats and that’s why markets are higher this week,” she informed him. “What’s your response to that?”

At first, Trump appeared a bit puzzled and said he hadn’t heard that phrase yet, then he grew defensive of his unpredictable tariff negotiations with China and Europe. Originally, the White House had planned to enact 50% tariffs on imports from the European Union on June 1, but after European markets began to show signs of panic, Trump pushed the deadline for negotiations to July 9.
“We have an end date of July 9. You call that chickening out?” he fired back at the reporter before continuing with a series of other claims about his economic actions.

“Six months ago, this country was stone-cold dead,” Trump said. “We had a country, people didn’t think it was gonna survive. And you ask a nasty question like that?”

“Don’t ever say what you said,” he added. “That’s a nasty question.”

The heated exchange on Wednesday was far from the first time Trump has had a contentious interaction with a member of the press. In April, while sitting down with ABC News’ Terry Moran, Trump grew irate when asked about Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador the month prior.

When Moran pointed out that Trump had been using a Photoshopped image to show that Abrego Garcia had “MS-13” tattooed on his knuckles, Trump insisted he was wrong.

“Terry, you can’t do that. They’ve given you the big break of a lifetime,” the president said. “I picked you because… Frankly, I had never heard of you, but that’s okay. But I picked you, Terry, but you’re not being very nice.”

“This is why people no longer believe the news, because it’s fake news,” he continued. “You do such a disservice. Why don’t you just say, ‘Yes, he does,’ and you know, go on to something else?”

The outbursts toward reporters were common in Trump’s first term as president as well. One memorable exchange came after the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.