U.S. removes reciprocal tariffs on some agri-products

WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Trump administration released on Friday an executive order to eliminate reciprocal tariffs on some agricultural products to ease rising prices.

Coffee and tea; tropical fruits and fruit juices; cocoa and spices; bananas, oranges, and tomatoes; beef; and some fertilizers have been exempted from reciprocal tariffs, according to a fact sheet released by the White House.

The order took effect on Thursday. Duties already collected will be refunded.

U.S. President Donald Trump has now determined that it is necessary and appropriate to further modify the scope of the reciprocal tariffs, given the substantial progress in reciprocal trade negotiations, current domestic demand for certain products, and current domestic capacity to produce certain products, according to the White House.

The tariff exemptions should lower prices, and they mostly apply to food that is "not competitive in this country," like bananas, Trump told reporters on Friday.

The U.S. Consumer Price Index year-over-year growth was 3 percent for September 2025, slightly up from 2.9 percent in August 2025. In particular, beef and veal prices in September increased by 14.7 percent year on year, with coffee prices up 18.9 percent.

"President Trump is finally admitting what we always knew: his tariffs are raising prices for the American people," said U.S. Representative Don Beyer in a statement.

"After getting drubbed in recent elections because of voters' fury that Trump has broken his promises to fix inflation, the White House is trying to cast this tariff retreat as a 'pivot to affordability,'" said Beyer, who is pushing for legislation to rein in U.S. presidential powers on setting tariffs.