President Donald Trump is sticking to his Aug. 1 deadline to reimpose steep tariffs, but the stock market doesn’t seem too worried. On Reddit’s r/stocks, one confused investor posted, “Trump just announced plans to do Liberation Day 2.0 all over again, but this time the stock market stays… up??? Does Wall Street simply not care about the economy anymore?”
Markets Shrug Off Tariff Threats
Wall Street dipped slightly on Tuesday, with the Dow falling about 0.4% and the S&P 500 slipping just 0.07%. The Nasdaq barely edged higher. These modest moves followed Trump’s declaration on Truth Social that there would be “no extensions granted” beyond the Aug. 1 deadline, adding that countries should expect to start paying new tariffs on that day. He also announced a 50% tariff on copper imports and threatened tariffs as high as 200% on pharmaceuticals.
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Despite the tough talk, many investors aren't reacting the way they did when Trump tariffs were announced on April 2, a date he referred to as “Liberation Day”.
One Reddit user boiled it down like this: “Because no one is believing the boy who cried tariff.”
That skepticism is widespread. In the Reddit thread, a term kept popping up: TACO, short for “Trump Always Chickens Out.” It’s Wall Street slang that reflects a belief that Trump often makes bold announcements but backs down before serious consequences hit. “It took him like an hour yesterday to start saying that the new date isn’t 100%,” another commenter noted.
Others pointed out that the market has already priced in much of the tariff risk. “When he threatened with a +50% range, the market panicked. Now the tariffs are landing in the range that the market initially anticipated,” one top commenter explained, referencing the expected 10% to 25% tariff range.
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Even Trump's newly announced copper tariff pushed futures up more than 10%, while pharmaceutical stocks like Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) pulled back after an early rally. Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) also slipped about 1% as its extended Prime Day began, with some investors watching for signs that tariffs are inflating consumer prices.
Still, some think the market is underestimating the damage. “We won't really know the impact until the fall,” one Reddit investor cautioned, suggesting that companies might temporarily absorb costs before passing them on.
In short, traders may have grown numb to Trump's tariff threats. “The market believes Trump isn’t serious and will back down before any real consequences emerge,” one commenter said. Another added: “Eventually he won’t chicken out,” hinting that investor complacency could backfire if Trump follows through this time.
For now, Wall Street appears more focused on Federal Reserve policy and the upcoming Q2 earnings season.
As one Redditor put it, “The stock market isn’t the economy.”
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