{"id":283830,"date":"2025-11-15T02:53:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T02:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/283830\/"},"modified":"2025-11-15T02:53:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T02:53:09","slug":"trump-drops-tariffs-on-beef-coffee-and-other-foods-as-affordability-concerns-grow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/283830\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump drops tariffs on beef, coffee and other foods as affordability concerns grow"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks on Thursday. The White House announced on Friday that Trump has cut tariffs on beef and other foods due to Americans’ concerns of increasing grocery prices.Evan Vucci\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

U.S. President Donald Trump<\/a> on Friday rolled back tariffs on more than 200 food products, including such staples as coffee, beef, bananas and orange juice, in the face of growing angst among American consumers about the high cost of groceries.<\/p>\n

The new exemptions \u2013 which took effect retroactively at midnight on Thursday \u2013 mark a sharp reversal for Trump, who has long insisted that the sweeping import duties he imposed earlier this year are not fuelling inflation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey may in some cases\u201d raise prices, Trump said of his tariffs when asked about the move aboard Air Force One on Friday evening. But he insisted that overall, the U.S. has \u201cvirtually no inflation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Democrats have won a string of victories in state and local elections in Virginia, New Jersey and New York City, where growing voter concerns about affordability, including high food prices, were a key topic.<\/p>\n

Opinion: In the trade negotiations, our politicians should learn how the business world plays follow the leader<\/a><\/p>\n

Trump also told reporters aboard Air Force One that he would move forward with a $2,000 payment to lower- and middle-income Americans that would be funded by tariff revenues next year some time. \u201cThe tariffs allow us to give a dividend if we want to do that. Now we\u2019re going to do a dividend and we\u2019re also reducing debt,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration announced framework trade deals on Thursday that, once finalized, will eliminate tariffs on certain foods and other imports from Argentina, Ecuador, Guatemala and El Salvador, with U.S. officials eyeing additional agreements before year\u2019s end.<\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s list includes products U.S. consumers routinely purchase to feed their families at home, many of which have seen double-digit year-over-year price increases. It includes over 200 items ranging from oranges, acai berries and paprika to cocoa, chemicals used in food production, fertilizers and even communion wafers.<\/p>\n

The White House, in a fact sheet on the order, said it came on the heels of \u201csignificant progress the President has made in securing more reciprocal terms for our bilateral trade relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n

It said Trump decided certain food items could be exempted since they were not grown or processed in the United States, and given the conclusion of nine framework deals, two final agreements on reciprocal trade, and two investment deals.<\/p>\n

Ground beef, as of the latest available data for September, was nearly 13 per cent more expensive, according to Consumer Price Index data, and steaks cost almost 17 per cent more than a year ago. Increases for both were the largest in more than three years, dating back to when inflation was nearing its peak under Trump\u2019s predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden.<\/p>\n

Although the U.S. is a major beef producer, a persistent shortage of cattle in recent years has kept beef prices high.<\/p>\n

Banana prices were about 7 per cent higher, while tomatoes were 1 per cent higher. Overall costs for food consumed at home were up 2.7 per cent in September.<\/p>\n

The tariff exemptions won praise from many industry groups, while some expressed disappointment that their products were excluded from the exemptions.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s action should help consumers, whose morning cup of coffee will hopefully become more affordable, as well as U.S. manufacturers, which utilize many of these products in their supply chains and production lines,\u201d FMI-Food Industry Association president Leslie Sarasin said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Distilled Spirits Council president Chris Swonger said that excluding spirits from the European Union and Britain \u201cis yet another blow to the U.S. hospitality industry just as the critical holiday season kicks into high gear.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cScotch, Cognac and Irish whiskey are value-added agricultural products that cannot be produced in the United States,\u201d Swonger added.<\/p>\n

Asked if further changes were planned, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019ll be necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just did a little bit of a rollback,\u201d he said. \u201cThe prices of coffee were a little bit high, now they\u2019ll be on the low side in a very short period.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks on Thursday. The White House announced on Friday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":283831,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,45,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-283830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}