Trump Rolls Back Many Food Tariffs

President Trump announced Friday that he was scrapping US tariffs on beef, coffee, tropical fruits, and a broad swath of other commodities—a dramatic move that comes amid mounting pressure on his administration to better combat high consumer prices. "We just did a little bit of a rollback on some foods like coffee," Trump said aboard Air Force One as he flew to Florida hours after the tariff announcement was made. Pressed on his tariffs helping to increase consumer prices, Trump acknowledged, "I say they may, in some cases" have that effect. "But to a large extent they've been borne by other countries," the president added.

• Trump has built his second term around imposing steep levies on goods imported into the US in hopes of encouraging domestic production and lifting the US 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 economic concerns as their top issue, resulting in big wins for Democrats in Virginia, New Jersey, and other key races around the country, the AP reports.

• Inflation—despite Trump's pronouncements that it has vanished since he took office in January—remains elevated, further increasing pressure on US consumers.
• The Trump administration has insisted that its tariffs had helped fill government coffers and weren't a major factor in higher prices at grocery stores around the country. But Democrats were quick to paint Friday's move as an acknowledgement that Trump's policies were hurting American pocketbooks.
• "President Trump is finally admitting what we always knew: his tariffs are raising prices for the American people," Virginia Democratic Rep. Don Beyer said in a statement. "After getting drubbed in recent elections because of voters' fury that Trump has broken his promises to fix inflation, the White House is trying to cast this tariff retreat as a 'pivot to affordability.'"

• Trump slapped tariffs on most countries around the globe in April. He and his administration still say that tariffs don't increase consumer prices, despite economic evidence to the contrary. Record-high beef prices have been a particular concern, and Trump had said he intended to take action to try and lower them. Trump's tariffs on Brazil , a major beef exporter, had been a factor.
• 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't 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 US consumers.
• Trade groups praised the move and urged Trump to roll back more of his tariffs, the Wall Street Journal reports. "It's certainly a step in the right direction, but it's important to recognize that the pain that American working families and businesses feel from tariffs goes way beyond coffee and bananas," said Jake Colvin, president of the National Foreign Trade Council.