Today's News: Trump Rolls Back Food Tariffs In Response To Inflation Concerns

The reversal comes in response to persistent high consumer prices, particularly for groceries, and recent electoral setbacks for Republicans, where affordability was a key voter concern.

Photo: Caroline Brehman/EPA

Overview

• Date: November 14-15, 2025

• Summary: The Trump administration announced an executive order lifting “reciprocal” tariffs on various food imports, including coffee, beef, and bananas. This reversal of a signature policy comes in response to persistent high consumer prices, particularly for groceries, and recent electoral setbacks for Republicans where affordability was a key voter concern. While the White House frames the move partly in the context of new trade agreements, economists and Democrats largely interpret it as a tacit admission that the tariffs contributed to rising inflation, a claim the administration previously denied. The rollback aims to alleviate price pressures on American consumers, though its full impact on affordability remains a subject of debate among experts.

Sources

• The New York Times - Trump Administration Lifts Some Food Tariffs in Effort to Ease Prices

• CNN - Trump’s latest tariff TACO probably won’t make your life more affordable

• NBC News - Trump issues order rolling back some of his food tariffs

• The Washington Post - Trump goes on defense over tariffs as prices on everyday items keep rising

• The Wall Street Journal - Trump Implements Major Rollback of Food Tariffs

Key Points

• The Trump administration has issued an executive order to lift “reciprocal” tariffs on a range of food imports, including coffee, beef, bananas, and tomatoes.

• This policy shift is largely driven by growing public concern over elevated consumer prices and inflation, particularly for groceries, which has negatively impacted President Trump’s approval ratings and contributed to recent Democratic electoral victories.

• Most economists and Democratic critics view the tariff rollback as an implicit acknowledgment by the administration that its tariffs contributed to higher prices for American consumers, contradicting earlier administration claims.

• The administration attributes some of the tariff exemptions to progress in trade negotiations and new “framework deals” with various countries.

• The tariffs were initially imposed as part of President Trump’s broader “reciprocal” tariff policy, which began rolling out in April.

Unique Highlights

• The New York Times: Details specific industries that protested being excluded from the exemptions, such as the Distilled Spirits Council and the National Association of Manufacturers. It mentions olive oil as an example of a commodity that has become unaffordable for lower-income shoppers due to tariffs artificially keeping prices high. The article also highlights the ongoing Supreme Court case challenging the legality of President Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs and the specific tariffs of 50 percent on coffee imports from Brazil and 20 percent from Vietnam.

• CNN: Uses the acronym “TACO” (Trump Always Chickens Out), a term used by traders to describe instances when the president reverses a policy due to unintended consequences. It quotes US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer stating that these exemptions generally won’t improve affordability, arguing that the overall price trend is due to supply and demand, not tariffs. Paul Donovan, chief economist at UBS Global Wealth Management, is quoted as expressing skepticism that lowering tariffs will necessarily lower prices for consumers.

• NBC News: Mentions a Sept. 5 executive order where President Trump had previously detailed potential tariff modifications for agricultural products not produced in the United States. The article references an NBC News poll indicating that approximately two-thirds of voters believe President Trump has not fulfilled his promises to curb inflation and improve the economy.

• The Washington Post: Cites a Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll showing nearly a 2-to-1 disapproval margin among registered voters regarding the president’s tariffs. It provides specific price increases for certain goods, noting coffee prices were up 19 percent and bananas up 7 percent over the previous 12 months.

• The article details broader aspects of President Trump’s trade strategy, including nearly doubling average tariffs on Chinese goods to 47 percent and securing over $1 trillion in foreign investment, while also noting the disappearance of 33,000 manufacturing jobs since January.

• It discusses the president’s revived idea of a $2,000 taxpayer rebate funded by tariff revenue and the lack of support for it in Congress. Furthermore, it highlights Senate votes where four Republican senators joined Democrats in a 51-47 symbolic rebuke of the president’s tariff strategy and details the potential consequences of the Supreme Court’s ruling on November 5, including a possible order to refund $90 billion in collected tariffs.

• The Wall Street Journal: Specifies that the tariff reductions are retroactive to 12:01 a.m. on Thursday, November 13. It notes that the administration has simultaneously expanded other tariffs on individual industries, such as steel, aluminum, and automobiles, based on Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. The article includes reactions from industry groups, quoting Leslie G. Sarasin, president and CEO of FMI, and Jake Colvin, president of the National Foreign Trade Council.

Contrasting Details

• Impact on Affordability and Effectiveness of Rollback:

  • CNN presents a more cautious view on the direct impact of the rollback on affordability. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer states that the new exemptions generally won’t help improve affordability, attributing the overall price trend to supply and demand rather than tariffs. Paul Donovan of UBS Global Wealth Management also expresses skepticism, noting that import prices for bananas have fallen since tariffs were imposed, but consumer prices have risen, suggesting that lowering tariffs may not automatically lead to lower consumer prices.

  • In contrast, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal, along with statements from Democrats and economists like Erica York of the Tax Foundation, frame the rollback as a tacit admission that tariffs did raise prices for American consumers. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (as quoted by The Washington Post) now states that tariff cuts would “bring the prices down very quickly,” despite previously suggesting that foreign exporters and U.S. retailers bore most of the tariff burden, leaving consumers largely unaffected.

• Scope of Exemptions:

  • While the administration initially signaled (as mentioned by NBC News and The Washington Post) that some products not generally produced in the United States could be spared tariffs once nations where they originate reached trade deals, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal clarify that the exemptions announced apply more broadly. They state that the Friday exemptions apply to products from any nation hit with reciprocal tariffs, even those that have not yet agreed on trade terms, and include some goods commonly produced in the U.S., such as beef. This indicates a broader, less conditional rollback than previously implied for specific trade partners.

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