Here's how Trump responded to reporter's 'nastiest' tariff question

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump didn't seem to take too kindly to a reporter's question when asked about his tariff policies. 

Trump spoke to reporters Wednesday during the swearing-in of Jeanine Pirro as the interim United States Attorney for the District of Columbia in the Oval Office. 

What they're saying:

When Trump took questions, the conversation pivoted to tariffs. 

"Mr. President, Wall Street analysts have coined a new term. They call it the TACO trade," a reporter said. "They're saying Trump always chickens out on the tariff threats. And that's why markets are higher this week. What's your response to that?"

"I've never heard that," Trump responded to the reporter, identified by the New York Post as CNBC White House correspondent Megan Casella. "You call that chickening out? Because we have $14 trillion now invested, committed to investing."

"Biden, this country was dying," he continued. "You know, we have the hottest country anywhere in the world. People didn't think it was going to survive."

Trump then aimed his ire at the reporter. 

"And you ask a nasty question like that? It's called negotiation," he continued. "Don't ever say what you said. That's a nasty question. To me, that's the nastiest question."

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Trump then returned to the tariff topic after being asked about visas for foreign students.

"I have great respect for the people at the European Union. They wouldn't be over here today negotiating if I didn't put a 50% tariff on. 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,'" Trump said. "I usually have the opposite problem. They say, 'You're too tough.'" 

What is a ‘TACO’ trade?

The backstory:

According to Yahoo! Finance, the term "TACO," or "Trump Always Chickens Out," was coined by Robert Armstrong, a writer for the Financial Times.

The term refers to how stock markets drop when Trump vows steep U.S. import tariffs, then rebound when he announces pauses. 

For example, Trump vowed a 50% tariff on EU goods last Friday, causing markets to fall. But on Sunday, after a call with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, he gave the EU until July 9 to reach a deal with the U.S. The markets responded favorably.

RELATED: Trump delaying 50% tariff on European Union

Some traders have been cashing in by buying the dip after such announcements, leading Armstrong to coin a term for the practice.

The ups and downs with Trump's tariffs

Dig deeper:

Trump’s aggressive and unpredictable policies — including massive import taxes — have clouded the outlook for the economy and the job market, raising fears that the American economy is headed toward a recession.

However, Trump’s tariff pullbacks, pauses and negotiations with some trading partners may have calmed nerves for the time being.

Trump had initially imposed a stunning 145% tariff on most goods from China, but agreed to a 90-day pause for negotiations.

The president, who said the tariffs were designed to boost domestic manufacturing, used aggressive rhetoric to describe a global trade system that the United States helped to build after World War II, saying "our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered" by other nations.

Trump said he was acting to bring in hundreds of billions in new revenue to the U.S. government and restore fairness to global trade.

TariffsDonald J. TrumpPoliticsNews