Trump Slashes Food Tariffs on 200+ Items as Americans Demand Relief

In a bold and unexpected move, President Donald Trump announced on Friday that his administration would cut the tariff on all 200 necessary food products.

Coffee, beef, bananas, and tomatoes, along with other staples found in almost all homes in America, are now right at the heart of this dramatic turn-around, as the price of grocery shopping continues to rise without any signs of subsiding.

The decision was announced just after midnight, taking the media, economists, and political analysts by surprise.

It’s like the punchline of a political thriller – the same president, defending tariff policies all along, is now working overtime to reverse them when the financial squeeze on American families is at its strongest.

“Are prices on groceries likely to decline? The question is on everyone’s mind. Trump pledges, "Yes, and fast.”

On board Air Force One, President Trump finally acknowledged what shoppers have been saying for months – namely, that prices are indeed being driven upwards by tariffs.

“Tariffs may, in certain instances, increase prices,” Trump stated, a significant departure from his earlier assertion that tariffs did not affect price levels.

But then, being truly Donald Trump, he immediately follows his acknowledgment with this proclamation:

“We have, overall, virtually no inflation.”

But to soften the blow, Trump dangled the prospect of a ‘tariff dividend’ of as much as $2,000 for low and middle-class families in the following year, which will be ‘directly paid’ by tariff revenues.

Note:

“The tariffs allow us to give a dividend if we want to do that,” said Mr. Trump. “And we’re also reducing debt.”

New Trade Deals Mean New Prices

In this package, and in addition to the rollbacks on tariffs, the Trump administration announced trade agreements with Argentina, Ecuador, Guatemala, and El Salvador. Once implemented, these agreements will see the abolition of tariffs on various agricultural products, as well as other imported items. Other agreements are expected to be announced soon, closing out this year.

The rollback is on things that Americans purchase on a regular basis, and are actually foods which have experienced “sharp and stubborn” inflation in prices, such as:

Ground beef: +13%

Steaks: +17%

Bananas: +7%

Tomatoes: +1%

Overall food-at-home prices: +2.7%

The overall reason for this surge is the constant scarcity of cattle, causing beef prices to remain high.

Since families have already begun scaling back spending on meat, fruits, and processed foods, this administration change is set to reflect an entirely different tone than what was demonstrated through those drastic tariff policies.

Industry Cheers… With Some Pushback

Coffee aficionados may have the most reason to celebrate.

“Today’s action should help consumers — whose morning cup of coffee will hopefully become more affordable,” FMI Food Industry Association President Leslie Sarasin said.

Not all sectors are, however, feeling the love.

The Distilled Spirits Council condemned the exclusion of Scotch, Cognac, and Irish whiskey from the list of tariff rollbacks concerning. (corectat: completat fraza; în original era neterminată)

“This is yet another blow to the U.S. hospitality industry just as the holidays are about to kick into high gear,” they said. (corectat: adăugat they said; fraza era incompletă)

“Spirits,” they say, “are value-added agricultural products that cannot be produced in the United States, and so this continuation of the tariff is particularly painful.”

Democrats seize the Moment: “He’s putting out a fire he started.”

The Democrats did not delay launching an attack.

“The Trump Administration is finally admitting publicly what we’ve known all along – Trump’s trade war is raising prices on Americans.”

The recent election victories by Democrats in the State of Virginia, New Jersey, and New York were fueled in part by voter concerns about affordability, particularly rising prices of food.

In light of this, Trump is under increasing political pressure to prove his ability to reduce grocery prices.

Affordability Takes Center Stage

While Trump insists that the inflation is the result of policies enacted under President Joe Biden, most economists argue otherwise. Instead, they place the blame on the tariffs themselves, which many companies only recently began passing along to consumers.

But Trump is unconcerned.

When asked if there were more tariff rollbacks on the horizon, he dismissed the notion with:

“I don’t think so. We just did a little bit of a rollback.”

Then, with his characteristic grin, he added, “The price of coffee was a little high, now it will be on the low side, within a very short period."