又中又英 | The TACO Trade | 褚簡寧

　　Mexican restaurants are popular in the US, but not so popular in Asia. I rarely eat Mexican food because it doesn't agree with me. If a type of food doesn't agree with you, it means the food makes you unwell. Most Mexican dishes include beans, which make my stomach uncomfortable.  But I like nachos and tacos. A nachos dish has a base of corn chips with a choice of toppings such as cheese, tomatoes, and minced beef. A taco is a thin flat bread made with corn flour which is topped with chicken, beef, or other things, then folded. They can be soft or crispy.

　　Wall Street stock investors trying to keep up with US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable tariff war have nicknamed him TACO to mock him. It stands for Trump Always Chickens Out. A Financial Times columnist invented Trump's TACO nickname which quickly went viral on the internet. A chicken is a type of bird but as a slang word it means a cowardly, timid, or fearful person. To chicken out means to decide not to do something because of cowardice, fear, or lack of courage.

　　Wall Street investors have learned how to use Trump’s unpredictable trade war to play the stock market. They buy when Trump raises tariffs, which causes a market crash that lowers prices. They know the market crash will make Trump chicken out and lower tariffs again. The market will rise when he lowers tariffs. Investors then sell their stocks, which they bought at low prices, for higher prices. They call this the TACO Trade. Trump, who craves a tough guy image, was enraged when a reporter asked him about chickening out.

　　墨西哥餐廳在美國很受歡迎，在亞洲則不盡然。我很少吃墨西哥菜，因為它doesn't agree with me—若一樣食物doesn't agree with you，它的意思是那種食物令你不適。大部分的墨西哥菜都有豆，令我的腸胃不舒服。但我喜歡吃nachos和tacos。Nachos是墨西哥粟米片，上面可以選擇鋪上各式各樣的配料例如芝士、番茄和牛肉碎。A taco則是用粟米粉造成的薄餅，上面配以雞肉、牛肉或其他食物，然後捲起來。它們可以是軟的，也可以是脆的。

　　華爾街的股票投資者，都在盡力跟上美國總統特朗普那場不能預估的關稅戰，他們給他起了個綽號TACO去譏笑他。它代表Trump Always Chickens Out，「特朗普總是膽怯」。一個《金融時報》的專欄作者給特朗普起了TACO這個綽號，迅即在網上爆紅。Chicken是雞肉，但作為俚語它的意思是膽小、易受驚、怕這怕那的；to chicken out是指因為膽怯、害怕又或缺乏信心而臨陣退縮。

　　華爾街的投資者都已學懂怎樣去利用特朗普不能預測的關稅戰去炒股。他們在特朗普加關稅時買入，因為加關稅會導致股市暴跌，股價下降。他們知道當股市暴跌時，會令特朗普退縮（chicken out）而又再減關稅。當他減關稅時股市會上揚，投資者此時就會高價賣出他們於低價買入的股票。他們叫這做「TACO交易」。特朗普總渴望建立一個硬漢的形象，因此當一名記者問他退縮卻步（chickening out）的事時，他不禁惱羞成怒。

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Michael Chugani褚簡寧
中譯：七刻