Cocoa, Green tea, and oda food products wey Trump remove from tariff
Wia dis foto come from, EPA/Shutterstock
- Author, Danielle Kaye
- Role, Business reporter
- Author, Nardine Saad
- Read am in 3 mins
US President Donald Trump don sign one executive order wey go allow some food products, wey include coffee, bananas and beef escape im sweeping tariffs.
Di move dey come as im administration dey face mounting pressure ova rising cost of food.
While Trump bin previously downplay concerns about di cost of living, e don focus on di issue since im Republican Party poor performance for last week elections.
Di dozens of products wey dey di White House list of exemptions range from avocados and tomatoes to coconuts and mangoes.
Trump administration on Friday, 14 November tok say dem no fit produce these goods in sufficient quantities domestically.
Why Trump cut tariff on food products
Trump for long don tok say im tariffs – wey currently tanda for 10% baseline on imports from countries, plus additional levies on many trading partners – no go lead to increased prices for US consumers.
E bin also tok say affordability na "new word" and "con job" by Democrats.
E argue say taxes dey necessary to reduce US trade deficit – di gap between di value of goods dem dey buy from oda countries and dos wey dey sell to dem.
Trump bin tok say "cheaters" dey exploit US and foreigners dey tiff from dem. E bin add say higher levies go encourage pipo wey dey US to buy American goods instead.
But grocery costs plus di rising price of beef don bicom political issue for Trump.
Last week, e bin call for investigation into di meat-packing industry, as e accuse companies of "Illicit Collusion, Price Fixing, and Price Manipulation".
E dey hope to rally support for di taxes, and e offer $2,000 tariff rebate cheques to Americans - even as di US Supreme Court currently dey check if Trump get di legal authority to implement dem.
On Friday, Trump tell tori pipo say di decision go affect products wey dem no dey produce for US, "so protection no dey for our industries, or our food products".
E add say im no tink say more policy rollbacks go dey required in di future, e say "I no tink e go dey necessary."
"We just do little bit of rollback on some foods, like coffee as example, as di prices of coffee bin dey a little bit high. Now dem go dey on di low side in a very short period of time," Trump tok.
Economists bin warn say companies go pass di cost of di tariffs on dia customers in di form of higher prices.
While inflation bin dey okay pass wetin many analysts bin expect for September, most items wey di Department of Labor inflation bin track for dia report show say price increase, wit groceries up 2.7% from last year.
Di Trump administration new tariff exemptions for food products go take effect retroactively at midnight on Thursday 13 November, di White House tok.
Which items dey free from tariffs?
Di White House bin release one list wey include more dan 100 products wey no longer dey subject to di levies. Some of dem include:
- Coffee
- Cocoa
- Black tea
- Green tea
- Vanilla beans
- Beef products, including high-quality cuts, bone-in and boneless cuts, corned beef, some frozen items, plus salted, brined, dried or smoked meat
- Fruits, including as acai, avocadoes, bananas, coconuts, guavas, limes, oranges, mangoes, plantains, pineapples, various peppers and tomatoes
- Spices, including allspice, bay leaves, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, curry, dill fennel seeds, ginger, mace, nutmeg, oregano, paprika, saffron and turmeric
- Nuts, grains, roots and seeds, like barley, Brazil nuts, capers, cashews, chestnuts, macadamia nuts, miso, palm hearts, pine nuts, poppy seeds, tapioca, taro and water chestnuts
