US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order allowing a range of food products, including coffee, bananas and beef, to escape his sweeping tariffs.
The move comes as his administration faces mounting pressure over rising prices. While Trump previously downplayed concerns about the cost of living, he has focused on the issuesince his Republican Party’s poor performance in last week’s elections.
The dozens of products included on the White House’s list of exemptions range from avocados and tomatoes to coconuts and mangoes.
These goods, the Trump administration said on Friday, cannot be produced in sufficient quantities domestically.
Trump has long said that his tariffs – currently a baseline 10% on imports from all countries, with additional levies on many trading partners – would not lead to increased prices for US consumers. He also said affordability was a “new word” and a “con job” by Democrats.
He has argued the taxes are necessary to reduce the US trade deficit – the gap between the value of goods it buys from other countries and those it sells to them. Trump has said the US has been exploited by “cheaters” and “pillaged” by foreigners, adding that higher levies would encourage those in the US to buy American goods instead.
But grocery costs and the soaring price of beef has become a political issue for Trump. Last week, he called for an investigation into the meat-packing industry, accusing companies of “Illicit Collusion, Price Fixing, and Price Manipulation”.
He has aimed to rally support for the taxes, offering $2,000 tariff rebate cheques to Americans – even as the US Supreme Court is currently weighing whether Trump had the legal authority to implement them.
But the latest exemptions signal a reversal by the Trump administration, as the White House seeks to lower prices by walking back levies on some food staples.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Trump said the decision will affect products that are not produced in the US, “so there’s no protection of our industries, or our food products”.
He added that he doesn’t think more policy rollbacks will be required in the future, saying “I don’t think it’ll be necessary.”
“We just did a little bit of a rollback on some foods, like coffee as an example, where the prices of coffee were a little bit high. Now they’ll be on the low side in a very short period of time,” Trump said.
Economists have warned that companies would pass the cost of tariffs onto their customers in the form of higher prices.
While inflation remained milder than many analysts had expected in September, most items tracked in the Department of Labor inflation report showed price increases, with groceries up 2.7% from last year.
The Trump administration’s new tariff exemptions for food products take effect retroactively at midnight on Thursday 13 November, the White House said.
In another move to address concerns among consumers about grocery prices, the Trump administration said import taxes on coffee and bananas will be lowered as part of trade deals with four Latin American countries.
This week, Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent both vowed to decrease coffee prices by 20% in the US this year.
What items are no longer subject to tariffs?
The White House released a list that includes more than 100 products no longer subject to the levies. Some of them include:
Coffee
Cocoa
Black tea
Green tea
Vanilla beans
Beef products, including high-quality cuts, bone-in and boneless cuts, corned beef, some frozen items, as well as salted, brined, dried or smoked meat
Fruits, including as acai, avocadoes, bananas, coconuts, guavas, limes, oranges, mangoes, plantains, pineapples, various peppers and tomatoes
Spices, including allspice, bay leaves, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, curry, dill fennel seeds, ginger, mace, nutmeg, oregano, paprika, saffron and turmeric
Nuts, grains, roots and seeds, such as barley, Brazil nuts, capers, cashews, chestnuts, macadamia nuts, miso, palm hearts, pine nuts, poppy seeds, tapioca, taro and water chestnuts.
By BBC News
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