Trump Moves To Ease Food Prices With Broad Tariff Exemptions
President Donald J. Trump’s administration is weighing targeted tariff exemptions as part of a broader effort to bring down persistently high food prices—an issue Democrats have tried to weaponize politically despite their own policy failures contributing to rising costs.
According to The New York Times, three individuals familiar with the discussions—speaking anonymously because the proposal has not yet been rolled out publicly—say the administration is evaluating carve-outs to the reciprocal tariffs President Trump announced in April. These tariffs cover products from countries that have yet to reach new trade agreements with the United States.
Among the exemptions under review are beef and citrus products, though the sources emphasized that President Trump has not finalized any determinations. The idea of expanding beef imports has drawn pushback from U.S. ranchers who worry foreign product increases could compete with domestic producers—an ongoing tension in the broader effort to restore affordability for American families.
If implemented, the move would mark the latest fine-tuning of Trump’s aggressive—yet flexible—trade strategy, one of his hallmark economic policies during his second term. Despite left-wing claims that the president “incorrectly” states prices are falling, the reality is that the White House has been engaged in an all-fronts strategy to undo the inflationary mess left behind by the prior administration.
Democrats, fresh off a string of off-year election wins last week, spent their campaigns hammering cost-of-living concerns in an attempt to deflect from their own inflationary policies. Their victories in races across Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Georgia have renewed calls from the left for more government intervention, even as the Trump administration continues emphasizing market-based solutions.
The new tariff-relief discussions would go further than the exemptions outlined in President Trump’s September executive order, which only applied to goods largely unavailable in the United States and sourced from nations with existing trade agreements. That order tasked Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer with reviewing more than a thousand product categories—ranging from industrial components to foreign agricultural goods like coffee, pineapples, avocados, and vanilla beans.
Two individuals familiar with the matter say Lutnick has been pushing internally for additional food-sector exemptions, citing stubbornly high consumer prices.
However, granting tariff relief to countries without formal trade agreements risks criticism that the administration is extending preferential treatment to governments that have not gone through the negotiation process.
The White House declined to confirm any specifics.
“The Trump administration is committed to pursuing a nimble, nuanced, and multifaceted strategy on trade and tariffs,” spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement.
Officials at both the U.S. Trade Representative’s office and the Commerce Department also declined to comment.
The September executive order stipulated that tariff exemptions were limited to trade agreements already concluded during the Trump administration’s second term—including deals with the European Union, United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, and others.
On Thursday, the administration added four new trade agreements with Argentina, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Ecuador—further expanding the coalition of nations willing to engage in reciprocal, America-first trade terms.
In April, President Trump implemented double-digit tariffs on countries lacking trade agreements with the U.S., but those rates have been reduced or eliminated once partner nations enter new accords.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent signaled on Fox News that “substantial” announcements on tariff exemptions are imminent. He reaffirmed the administration’s economic focus on lowering everyday costs, particularly on products not produced domestically.
He cited items such as coffee and bananas: “So that will bring the prices down very quickly,” he added.
The administration’s renewed push on affordability comes on the heels of Democrats making the cost of living their chief campaign message in the off-year elections.
Responding to the results, Vice President JD Vance underscored the administration’s priorities.
“We’re going to keep on working to make a decent life affordable in this country, and that’s the metric by which we’ll ultimately be judged in 2026 and beyond,” Vance posted on X, emphasizing the need for Republicans to “focus on the home front.”