When Donald Trump said the trade tariff deadline of August 1 was "firm but not 100 percent firm," TACOs returned to Wall Street.

Not the tasty dinner food, instead the nickname that investors have bestowed on the president for his economic flip-flopping - Trump Always Chickens Out. The nickname was revealed in the aftermath of Trump's "Liberation Day" announcement and the creation of tariffs on most nations. That decision sent the markets tumbling and Trump quickly issued a 90-day delay in creating the tariffs.

With Trump again delaying the start, this time to August 1 but swearing there will be “no change,” the markets again had a chance to react. This time, investors cared a lot less. The Dow Jones took a slight dip on Monday, but rebounded on Tuesday. For the past 5 days, the market is up overall about .5 percent.

The markets “shrugged” off Trump's latest threat and were less reactionary than last “Liberation Day,” said Carolyn Kissane, a professor at NYU's School of Professional Studies Center for Global Affairs.

“The pattern is familiar: dramatic declarations, walk-backs, and renewed threats. It's eroded his credibility and resembles the boy who cried wolf,” Kissane added. “He believes this tactic gives him a unique leverage to negotiate, but it also weakens the threats.”

However, other economists didn't paint it as a shrug-off by Wall Street. Instead, a former confidant of Trump said his extension shows the frustration the president feels with negotiations for new trade deals.

“My guess is that his patience is pretty well exhausted,” Trump's former Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told The Independent. “At some point he has to stop suspending and put things into effect. Hopefully, he will do that [on] this August date.”

“I think from the point of view of the country and the market, it would be very much better to have certainty as to what's going on.”

“I think the market is very troubled,” added Ross, one of the architects behind Trump’s economic agenda during his first term. “The indecision, the uncertainty…because it's very hard to plan when you don't know what the amounts will be or the date.”

Ross was appointed commerce secretary in 2017 and oversaw the introduction of tariffs on China during the president’s first stint in the White House.

He said he was “surprised” when Trump announced his sweeping so-called reciprocal tariffs in April, which he described as “ambitious.”

“We don't have the bandwidth to deal with 90 countries all at once,” Ross said, adding that a “worst-case” scenario would be if the tariffs are brought in as they currently stand on August 1. “I think most people would feel that was a little more extreme than they wanted it to be. And I'm sure that that would also provoke some retaliation.”

Still, Ross said that he believes his former boss has “made a lot of progress” despite getting off to a “slow” start.

“If in the beginning if he had said: ‘What I want is a 10 percent tariff on everything coming into the U.S.,’ there would have been a big hue and cry, ‘He’s ruining the world.’ Now there isn't a country that wouldn't settle for it,” Ross said. “So it's kind of raised the barrier.”

Trump’s changing of the goal posts earned him the “TACO” nickname, which the president said was “nasty.”

“The President just delayed his own tariff deadline—again,” taunted Democratic Rep. Mark Takano in a post on X. “It’s no wonder that world leaders and markets know that Trump Always Chickens Out (TACO) is the only real constant with this President on trade.”

“Trump delivers the most TACO statement ever when asked if the August 1 tariff deadline is firm,” said political analyst Sarah Reese Jones in a post on X, quoting the president’s remarks on July 9.

By late morning Tuesday, Trump claimed that this time he is serious and August 1 was a hard stop for countries where trade deals are not in place.

“As per letters sent to various countries yesterday, in addition to letters that will be sent today, tomorrow, and for the next short period of time, TARIFFS WILL START BEING PAID ON AUGUST 1, 2025,” Trump said in a Truth Social post.

“There has been no change to this date, and there will be no change,” he said. “In other words, all money will be due and payable starting AUGUST 1, 2025 - No extensions will be granted. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Letters to U.S. trading partners were sent out Monday, warning them that if they don’t make a deal, they would incur tariffs ranging from 20 – 40 percent on August 1.

It was reported Wednesday that Trump was urged to push back the July 9 deadline by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who said more deals would be made with “more time,” according to The Wall Street Journal.

Other experts have weighed in on whether Trump will carry out the threat if no deals emerge – and the consensus is that the uncertainty looming over the U.S. economy can’t continue.

Justin Wolfers, a professor of economics at the University of Michigan, outlined two scenarios: One being that Trump could push the August 1 deadline back again, fulfilling the TACO nickname, and the second that this time, he will press ahead with the “Liberation Day” tariffs if necessary.

“The language I use is ‘TACO Trump’ versus ‘tariff Trump,’” Wolfers told The Independent. “And the concern is, if it's ‘tariff Trump,’ he announced what almost everyone agreed was a devastating set of tariffs on Liberation Day. He's going back to basically the same tariffs, plus or minus a couple of percentage points. So I feel as scared today as I did on April 2.”

NYU’s Kissane said that while Trump “would never admit to chickening out,” the president sees the extension as a means of getting what he wants.

But the market’s complacency could “backfire,” Kissane said. “If Trump, emboldened by market calm and economic strength, were to follow through on his new August 1st deadline, markets could be caught off guard.”

Ultimately, Trump’s tactics have “weakened” his threats and the president “knows he will have to make a deal” to avoid spooking the markets again, Kissane said.

The sentiment was shared by Jonathan Ernest, an assistant professor of economics at Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management.

“The more often these deadlines are extended, the less credible they become,” Ernest told The Independent. “However, for individual nations, there is always the threat that playing hardball could lead to the Trump administration singling them out and imposing significantly harsher tariffs, which may at least motivate these countries to appear to be negotiating in good faith to avoid repercussions.”

Experts also told The Independent that they are bracing for volatility to return as the August 1 deadline looms.

“Most observers expect volatility to return as the new deadline approaches, but for now, each additional extension has a smaller effect,” said Wendong Zhang, an associate professor at Cornell’s Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management.

Zhang said the administration’s target of “90 deals in 90 days” was “very ambitious,” and the U.S. should conduct “a thorough analysis” of the full impact of any tariffs before moving forward.

“With second quarter earnings season beginning next week, the extension of the trade pause to August 1, and mid-August deadline to negotiate trade terms with China, we expect volatility is poised to rebound this summer,” Dave Sekera, chief U.S. equity strategist at Morningstar, also warned.

Trump was posting on Truth Social that the tariffs are making America “BOOM” Tuesday afternoon. But it doesn’t feel like it for many Americans who are struggling with the cost of their groceries and other necessities.

“As much as there's pain being caused in countries all around the world, it is important to notice that the folks that this will hurt most is the American people,” said Wolfers. “It will hurt American consumers, because when we go to the store and they want to buy the things in which our lives that are made made elsewhere, they're going to be more expensive.”