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Donald Trump has slashed tariffs on a number of agricultural imports, as the US president tries to bring down the cost of grocery prices in the face of poor polling on his handling of inflation and the economy.
Trump issued an executive order on Friday afternoon saying that imports of certain goods that were generally not grown or produced in the US would no longer be subject to “reciprocal tariffs” — the high levies he set based on emergency powers starting in April.
The president’s order said the tariff exemptions would apply to common and tropical fruits including oranges, tomatoes and bananas — as well as cocoa, coffee and tea. Beef imports were also included in the list, as well as spices and some fertilisers, according to a factsheet provided by the White House.
“We’ve really reached that critical mass where we started to reshape the global trade system in a way that we think is better for America. And so now is the right time to release some of these items,” Jamieson Greer, the US trade representative, told reporters at the White House.
However, the announcement marks a significant rollback of Trump’s aggressive tariff policies and underscores that lower levies can potentially bring some relief to consumers, while higher ones can lead to higher prices.
The move comes as the president’s approval ratings on the economy have languished at 41 per cent, with 56 per cent disapproving, according to the Realclearpolitics.com polling average.
The US Chamber of Commerce, the biggest US business lobby group, applauded the move and urged more similar action.
“We encourage the administration to build on today’s announcement and provide additional tariff relief for other products not readily available from domestic sources and in instances where tariffs threaten American jobs,” Neil Bradley, the chamber’s chief policy officer, said in a statement.
Democrats said Trump’s move was not enough to alleviate the damage from his trade policies.
“President Trump is finally admitting what we always knew: his tariffs are raising prices for the American people,” said Don Beyer, a Democratic lawmaker from Virginia. “While this move may alleviate some of the cost increases Trump caused, it will not stop the larger problems of rising inflation, business uncertainty and economic damage done by Trump’s crazy tariff scheme.”
The tariff cuts announced on Friday will take immediate effect, and follow deals reached by Trump with Switzerland to ease some of the punishing levies the US imposed on imports from the European Alpine nation earlier this year.
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