Tariff Cuts Could Lower Prices On Than 200 Grocery Staples

Tariff Cuts Could Lower Prices On Than 200 Grocery Staples
- President Donald Trump announced the rollback of tariffs on than 200 imported food products, including major grocery staples such as coffee, orange juice, and beef.
- The move is meant to ease consumer prices and support U.S. manufacturers by exempting products not widely produced domestically, such as tropical fruits, nuts, and spices.
- Industry groups largely welcomed the changes, saying they could help stabilize food costs, though some criticized the continued exclusion of imported spirits.
On Friday, President Donald Trump announced the rollback of tariffs on than 200 food products, Reuters reported, including key grocery staples like coffee and orange juice.
The move comes after a year marked by tariff talks that seemed to shift with the wind, with Trump now retroactively exempting key agricultural products that the administration claims are essential to “national security” and “strengthening the economy.”
“Given the substantial progress in reciprocal trade negotiations — including the conclusion of 9 framework deals, two final agreements on reciprocal trade, and two investment agreements — current domestic demand for certain products, and current domestic capacity to produce certain products, among other things, President Trump has now determined that it is necessary and appropriate to further modify the scope of the reciprocal tariffs,” a statement from the White House read. “Specifically, certain qualifying agricultural products will no longer be subject to those tariffs, such as certain food not grown in the United States.”
The new tariff deals, the administration’s statement added, involve “countries that produce substantial volumes of agricultural products that are not grown or produced in sufficient quantities in the United States.” That includes “coffee and tea; tropical fruits and fruit juices; cocoa and spices; bananas, oranges, and tomatoes; and beef.”
According to the executive order’s annexthe list of now exempt foods includes acai, citrus juice (other than orange, grapefruit or lime), coconut water, tomatoes, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, capers, taro, Brazil and cashew nuts, avocados, and mangoes, along with spices like clove and nutmeg, which are key ingredients for those holiday pies to come.
While any price reductions at the store will be a welcome sight for consumers, the biggest winner will likely be beef. As Food & Wine reported in early November, beef prices have risen sharply in the U.S., with Bureau of Labor Statistics data showing month-over-month increases of up to 18% for certain cuts. However, Trump wouldn’t blame the price increases on tariffs; instead, he claims they are due to “foreign-owned meat packing cartels,” which his administration is now actively investigating.
Still, the little things add up. As Reuters noted, the Bureau of Labor Statistics data also showed that banana prices were about 7% higher and tomatoes were up 1% in September, with overall costs for food consumed at home increasing by 2.7%.
“(The Food Industry Association) is grateful and extremely pleased at President Trump’s actions to cut tariffs on a wide swathe of food and agriculture products,” Leslie G. Sarasin, the president and CEO of the organization, shared in a statement. “Today’s action should help consumers, whose morning cup of coffee will hopefully become affordable, as well as U.S. manufacturers, which utilize many of these products in their supply chains and production lines.”
However, these changes weren’t enough for some, including Chris Swonger, the president of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS), who stated in an email that excluding spirits “is yet another blow to the U.S. hospitality industry just as the critical holiday season kicks into high gear.” He pointed out that “Scotch, Cognac, and Irish Whiskey are value-added agricultural products that cannot be produced in the United States.”
However, according to Reuters, when Trump was pressed by reporters aboard Air Force One about whether any additional changes were expected, he replied, “I don’t think it’ll be necessary.”
Disclaimer: This news article has been republished exactly as it appeared on its original source, without any modification.
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Disclaimer: This news article has been republished exactly as it appeared on its original source, without any modification.
We do not take any responsibility for its content, which remains solely the responsibility of the original publisher.
Author: uaetodaynews
Published on: 2025-11-24 12:24:00
Source: uaetodaynews.com




