{"id":381258,"date":"2025-11-15T18:27:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T18:27:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/381258\/"},"modified":"2025-11-15T18:27:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T18:27:13","slug":"trump-scraps-grocery-tariffs-in-affordability-scramble-as-beef-coffee-and-tropical-fruits-are-suddenly-off-the-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/381258\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump scraps grocery tariffs in affordability scramble as beef, coffee and tropical fruits are suddenly off the list"},"content":{"rendered":"

President\u00a0Donald Trump<\/a>\u00a0announced Friday that he was scrapping\u00a0U.S. tariffs<\/a>\u00a0on beef, coffee, tropical fruits and a broad swath of other commodities \u2014 a dramatic move that comes amid mounting pressure on his administration to better combat high consumer prices.<\/p>\n

Trump has built his second term around imposing steep levies on goods imported into the U.S. in hopes of encouraging domestic production and lifting the U.S. economy. His abrupt retreat from his signature tariff policy on so many staples key to the American diet is significant, and it comes after voters in off-year elections this month cited\u00a0economic concerns as their top issue<\/a>, resulting in big wins for Democrats in Virginia, New Jersey and other key races around the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just did a little bit of a rollback on some foods like coffee,\u201d Trump said aboard Air Force One as he flew to Florida hours after the tariff announcement was made.<\/p>\n

Pressed on his tariffs helping to increase consumer prices, Trump acknowledged, \u201cI say they may, in some cases\u201d have that effect.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut to a large extent they\u2019ve been borne by other countries,\u201d the president added.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, inflation \u2014 despite Trump\u2019s pronouncements that it has vanished since he took office in January \u2014 remains\u00a0elevated<\/a>, further increasing pressure on U.S. consumers.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has insisted that its tariffs had helped fill government coffers and weren\u2019t a major factor in higher prices at grocery stores around the country. But Democrats were quick to paint Friday\u2019s move as an acknowledgement that Trump\u2019s policies were hurting American pocketbooks.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Trump is finally admitting what we always knew: his tariffs are raising prices for the American people,\u201d Virginia Democratic Rep. Don Beyer said in a statement. \u201cAfter getting drubbed in recent elections because of voters\u2019 fury that Trump has broken his promises to fix inflation, the White House is trying to cast this tariff retreat as a \u2018pivot to affordability.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Grocery bill worries<\/p>\n

Trump slapped\u00a0tariffs on most countries<\/a>\u00a0around the globe in April. He and his administration still say that tariffs don\u2019t increase consumer prices,\u00a0despite economic evidence<\/a>\u00a0to the contrary.<\/p>\n

Record-high beef prices<\/a>\u00a0have been a particular concern, and Trump had said he intended to take action to try and lower them. Trump\u2019s\u00a0tariffs on Brazil<\/a>, a major beef exporter, had been a factor.<\/p>\n

Trump signed an executive order that also removes tariffs on tea, fruit juice, cocoa, spices, bananas, oranges, tomatoes and certain fertilizers. Some of the products covered aren\u2019t produced in the United States, meaning that tariffs meant to spur domestic production had little effect. But reducing the tariffs will still likely mean lower prices for U.S. consumers.<\/p>\n

The Food Industry Association, which represents retailers, producers and a variety of related industry firms and services, applauded Trump\u2019s move to provide \u201cswift tariff relief,\u201d noting that import U.S. taxes \u201care an important factor\u201d in a \u201ccomplex mix\u201d of supply chain issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Trump\u2019s proclamation to reduce tariffs on a substantial volume of food imports is a critical step ensuring continued adequate supply at prices consumers can afford,\u201d the association said in a statement.<\/p>\n

In explaining the tariff reductions, the White House said Friday that some of the original levies Trump relished imposing on nearly every country on earth months ago were actually no longer necessary given the trade agreements he\u2019d since hammered out with key U.S. trading partners.<\/p>\n

Indeed, Friday\u2019s announcement follows the Trump administration having reached\u00a0framework agreements<\/a>\u00a0with Ecuador, Guatemala, El Salvador and Argentina meant to increase the ability of U.S. firms to sell industrial and agricultural products in these countries, while also potentially easing tariffs on agricultural products produced there.<\/p>\n

During an interview that aired earlier in the week with Laura Ingraham of Fox<\/a> News Channel, Trump hinted that lower tariffs might be coming.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoffee, we\u2019re going to lower some tariffs,\u201d the president said then. \u201cWe\u2019re going to have some coffee come in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tariff checks?<\/p>\n

Despite pulling back on so many tariffs, Trump used his comments aboard Air Force One on Friday night to repeat his past assertions that his administration would use revenue the federal government has collected from import levies to fund\u00a0$2,000 checks<\/a>\u00a0for many Americans.<\/p>\n

The president suggested such checks could be issued in 2026, but was vague on timing, saying only, \u201cSometime during the year.\u201d Trump, however, also said federal tariff revenue might be used to pay down national debt \u2014 raising questions about how much federal funding would be needed to do both.<\/p>\n

Trump rejected suggestions that attempting direct payments to Americans could exacerbate inflation concerns \u2014 even as he suggested that similar checks offered during the coronavirus pandemic, and by previous administrations to stimulate the economy, had that very effect.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is money earned as opposed to money that was made up,\u201d Trump said. \u201cEverybody but the rich will get this. That\u2019s not made up. That\u2019s real money. That comes from other countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

__<\/p>\n

Associated Press writer Chris Megerian on Air Force One contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President\u00a0Donald Trump\u00a0announced Friday that he was scrapping\u00a0U.S. tariffs\u00a0on beef, coffee, tropical fruits and a broad swath of other…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":381259,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[5533,64,15713,79,2105,4053,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-381258","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-beef","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-coffee","11":"tag-economy","12":"tag-food-and-drink","13":"tag-tariffs-and-trade","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115555129390527745","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}