Trump administration lifts some food tariffs in effort to ease prices

A shopper at a grocery store in Manhattan, on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025. (Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times)

By ANA SWANSON

The Trump administration said late last week that it would lift tariffs on foreign products including beef, tomatoes, bananas and coffee, an effort to alleviate some of the price pressures consumers have faced since its global levies took effect.

The exemptions, which were made effective from Thursday, were applied to certain “reciprocal” tariffs that President Donald Trump announced on other countries’ exports in April. They walk back one of the president’s signature policies — the sweeping tariffs that he has suddenly paused, raised and lowered in recent months, causing chaos for trading partners and international businesses.

The White House said the tariffs were no longer needed, given the substantial progress it had made in its trade negotiations, including more than a dozen “framework deals,” final trade agreements and investment agreements. The United States said this week that it had agreed to deals with Switzerland, Argentina, El Salvador, Guatemala and Uruguay that would open up those markets for U.S. business.

But the steps also appear motivated by rising concern inside and outside the White House about consumer prices. Although Trump campaigned on lowering the price of groceries, continued elevated inflation has weighed on his approval ratings, and concerns about affordability helped propel Democrats to wins in elections across the country last week.

Asked Friday if he would make more changes to his tariffs, Trump said, “I don’t think it’ll be necessary. We just did a little bit of a rollback on some foods like coffee.”

In recent months, administration officials publicly discussed the idea of exempting goods that do not have major domestic U.S. producers, such as coffee or bananas, for countries that had signed trade agreements with the United States. But many of the exemptions announced Friday evening would apply to all “reciprocal tariffs” issued against foreign countries, not just those that have signed trade deals. The contents also appeared larger than expected, including some goods produced in the United States, including bread, beef and orange juice.

Some analysts said the administration’s move was a tacit admission that tariffs had pushed up prices in the first place — a basic tenet among economists that the administration has often denied or dismissed.

“Wait. If lowering tariffs lowers prices, what does raising tariffs do to prices?” Erica York, a vice president at the Tax Foundation, which has compiled estimates of the costs to consumers of the tariffs, wrote on social media.

“President Trump is finally admitting what we always knew: His tariffs are raising prices for the American people,” said Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va.

Administration officials, including Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, had argued for bigger exemptions in recent days to try to ease food inflation. But not all administration officials believed that creating such broad carve-outs was wise.

By offering relief for foreign countries that have made concessions in trade deals as well as those that have not, the exemptions could anger some trading partners. Tariff cuts could also upset domestic producers who are important sources of support for Trump, including ranchers and Florida tomato and orange growers.

Trump clashed with cattle ranchers in recent weeks, proposing to increase imports to bring beef prices down. Ranchers said the idea ran counter to the president’s “America first” philosophy.

The American Soybean Association put out a statement thanking Trump for exempting fertilizers used in soybean production. Other industries protested being left off the exemptions list.

The National Association of Manufacturers said in a statement earlier Friday that manufacturing inputs and machinery for American factories should not be subject to tariffs. After the Trump administration’s announcement, Chris Swonger, the CEO of the Distilled Spirits Council, said that not including European and British spirits was “another blow to the U.S. hospitality industry.”

Spirits such as Scotch, cognac, and Irish whiskey “are value-added agricultural products that cannot be produced in the United States,” he said.

All of the president’s “reciprocal” tariffs on foreign nations are under threat in a case before the Supreme Court. Officials are waiting to see whether the court will rule that Trump exceeded his legal authority in imposing those tariffs and strike them down. The administration has said it has other options to impose levies if that occurs.

Tariffs have acted with other forces to modestly boost food prices in recent months. Costs have risen more significantly for some products, like beef and coffee, the price of which has risen nearly 19% this year. That has been partly because of adverse weather, but tariffs of 50% on imports from Brazil and 20% on goods from Vietnam, major coffee growers, have added to the increase.