Trump Exempts Beef, Coffee and Bananas From Tariffs as Food Prices Bite

President Trump on Friday exempted beef, coffee, bananas and a broad group of other foods from the country-by-country tariffs that are a signature of his second term, a move that comes as his administration faces mounting pressure over the cost of living, CBS News and NBC News reported.

According to CBS News, the executive order covers tropical products such as coffee, tea, bananas, mangoes, avocados, coconuts, pineapples, cocoa and spices, along with beef, oranges and tomatoes. NBC News listed coffee, tea, tropical fruits, fruit juices, cocoa, oranges and tomatoes among the exempted items, and said the order covers “a range of food imports.” The foods are removed from the “reciprocal” tariffs, and CBS News noted that some foods could still be affected by other kinds of tariffs.

The White House said Mr. Trump acted because of progress in trade negotiations. CBS News reported that the White House cited “substantial progress,” and NBC News reported that a spokesman, Kush Desai, linked the move to a September order and to new trade deals with what the White House called some of the nation’s biggest allies in the Western Hemisphere.

The timing is notable. NBC News said the order came a little more than a week after Democrats defeated Republican gubernatorial candidates in Virginia and New Jersey, and cited an NBC News poll finding that about two-thirds of voters think Mr. Trump has not lived up to his promises to curb inflation and improve the economy.

Democrats were quick to describe the move as an admission. Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, said the administration was “finally admitting publicly” that the president’s trade war is raising costs, NBC News reported. He said the administration was putting out a fire it started and calling it progress.

The change arrives while the legal basis for many of the tariffs is under review. The Supreme Court heard arguments on Nov. 5 on whether the president can impose sweeping tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, with justices across the ideological spectrum questioning the administration’s reading of the 1977 law, NBC News and CBS News reported. NBC News reported that customs data showed those emergency tariffs had raised about $89 billion through August.

CBS News reported that Mr. Trump told reporters the exemptions should lower prices and mostly applied to food “not competitive in this country.”