{"id":141397,"date":"2025-11-15T15:20:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T15:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/141397\/"},"modified":"2025-11-15T15:20:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T15:20:08","slug":"trump-rolls-back-tariffs-on-beef-coffee-and-other-foods-as-inflation-concerns-mount-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/141397\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump rolls back tariffs on beef, coffee and other foods as inflation concerns mount \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

US 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 Mr Trump, who has long insisted that the sweeping import duties<\/a> he imposed earlier this year are not fuelling inflation.<\/p>\n

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

Democrats have won a string of victories<\/a> 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

Mr 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 at some point next year. \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 finalised, will eliminate tariffs on certain foods and other imports from Argentina, Ecuador, Guatemala and El Salvador, with US officials eyeing additional agreements before year\u2019s end.<\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s list includes products US consumers routinely purchase to feed their families at home, many of which have seen double-digit year-over-year price increases. It includes more than 200 items ranging from oranges, acai berries and paprika to cocoa, chemicals used in food production, fertilisers 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 Mr 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

[\u00a0David McWilliams: The US is Ireland\u2019s best friend, so why are so many of us anti-American?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/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 Mr Trump\u2019s predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden.<\/p>\n

Although the US is a big 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 US manufacturers, which utilise 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 excluding spirits from the European Union and Britain \u201cis yet another blow to the US hospitality industry just as the critical holiday season kicks into high gear\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Epstein files: Trump taunted from beyond the graveOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

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

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

\u201cWe just did a little bit of a rollback. The prices of coffee were a little bit high, now they\u2019ll be on the low side in a very short period.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Trump has upended the global trading system by imposing a 10 per cent base tariff on imports from every country, plus additional specific duties that vary from state to state.<\/p>\n

He has focused squarely on the issue of affordability in recent weeks, while insisting that any higher costs were triggered by policies enacted by Mr Biden, and not his own tariff policies.<\/p>\n

Consumers have remained frustrated over high grocery prices, which economists say have been fuelled in part by import tariffs and could rise further next year as companies start passing on the full brunt of the import duties.<\/p>\n

The top Democrat on the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, Richard Neal, said the Trump administration was \u201cputting out a fire that they started and claiming it as progress\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Trump administration is finally admitting publicly what we\u2019ve all known from the start: Trump\u2019s Trade War is hiking costs on people,\u201d Mr Neal said in a statement. \u201cSince implementing these tariffs, inflation has increased and manufacturing has contracted month after month.\u201d \u2013 Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US president Donald Trump on Friday rolled back tariffs on more than 200 food products, including such staples…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":141398,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[72,14843,969,113,61,60,115,1963],"class_list":["post-141397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-democratic-party","tag-donald-trump","tag-economy","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-united-states","tag-us-tariffs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}