President Donald Trump last week announced he would be lowering tariffs that he introduced on many common US food and drink imports, including coffee, beef, tomatoes and bananas. That change comes into effect this week. The news comes as the White House tries to grapple with the rising cost of consumer goods, which has become somewhat of a key issue in local and state elections in recent weeks.
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This article will look at what tariffs are changing and when they will take effect, why the administration has decided to change its stance now and whether or not experts think it will have the effect Trump wants - namely settling market fears and discontent with the rising cost of living.
The changes will come into effect at Midnight Thursday 13 November, and will apply retroactively to any imports that are currently being processed.
The products that will then be exempt from the flat 10% import tax on all countries without a specific trading agreement with US saying otherwise, include:
The full list of more than 200 products is now available on the White House website. At the same time, existing import taxes on coffee and bananas from from Latin American countries will be lowered after the White House agreed new trade deals last week.
Some of the products, mainly beef, coffee and cocoa, were facing even higher tariffs due to trade disagreements with key suppliers like Brazil.
The move to slash tariffs on food imports was seen as needed by top Republicans, as the high cost of living issue eats into the President's approval ratings. Last year, many experts predicted the new tariffs would hit American's in their grocery basket prices. That has since borne out in an average 2.7% rise in grocery store food prices since last September.
President Trump's reversal has not come with any admission that tariffs played a role in the above inflation grocery price rises. The President continue to blame previous Joe Biden administration policies for the rise, despite changing course on these food tariffs.
According to some recent polling data, a majority of Americans are concerned about the rising cost of living. Monthly household bills have risen between $100 and $749 on average over the past year.
This has been reflected in recent high profile victories for Democrats in local and state elections, including in New York where new city Mayor Zoran Mamdani campaigned relentlessly on the cost of living issue.
Trump's tariffs were a key part of his campaign and have remained in his economic strategy since returning to office. The President remains staunch that they are needed to protect US businesses and workers. Despite rolling back many of them since they were introduced,
The new changes will undoubtedly relieve pressure on supply chains in some areas. However, experts have cautioned that other facts such as global supply shortages and economic uncertainty are contributing to rising prices.
Beef prices in particular are likely to settle somewhat after the move. Uncooked beef products have seen some of the highest price rises in recent years, rising 6% in September 2025 alone. The supply has been squeezed by a fall in domestic production due to drought and higher infrastructure costs, at the same time as high tariffs of up to 75% have hit the major Brazilian beef import market.
Meanwhile coffee prices have reached historic highs in 2025, although they have fallen slightly since. 1lb of ground coffee today costs 33% more than it did a year ago. Coffee beans are not grown in the US in any significant quantities. Global supply issues due to poor harvests affected by climate change and regional conflicts, at a time of increasing demand in growing middle class economies like China and India, have seen it become one of the biggest victims of global inflation.
Cocoa is another common commodity that his been hit by similar concerns. Retail chocolate bars by Hershey's are now nearly 30% more expensive than they were at the end of 2024. The confectionary maker said it expected to pay out some $170 million in tariffs on top of record high cocoa bean prices due to climate-impacted poor harvests.
The Trump administration itself urged cautious optimism in briefings on the new tariff exemptions, emphasising significant grocery price reductions across the board is the goal but is not a guaranteed outcome.
