President Donald Trump has lifted 40% tariffs on a raft of Brazilian agricultural products, including fruit, beef and coffee.
The administration had exempted a slate of U.S. ag imports, including coffee, beef and other spices, from the administration’s so-called “reciprocal” tariffs last week. But Brazil is subject to another 40% tariff, in addition to its 10% reciprocal tariff, over its prosecution of Trump’s political ally, former President Jair Bolsonaro.
Like the tariff exemptions applied to the reciprocal tariffs, the Brazilian tariff exemptions will also be applied retroactively from Nov. 13.
In addition to certain beef products, coffee and tropical fruit, like banana, mango and pineapple, the order also lifts duties on nuts, spices and orange juice.
Explaining the decision, the executive order signed late Thursday cites ongoing negotiations with Brazilian officials. But in recent days, Trump and other officials have reiterated their focus on keeping consumer prices in check. Speaking on Fox Business on Thursday, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick framed recent tariff cuts as part of that price-cutting effort.
“When we started this process on April 2nd, [Trump] wanted, as you know, trade deals,” Lutnick said. Now, Lutnick said, the president’s focus is on “affordability.”
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“The president is going to focus on the small things that touch the American’s pocketbook and he’s going to bring them all down,” Lutnick said. “He’s going to use the power of what he’s created to bring these prices down, so that by Christmas, the prices in America are lower and lower.”
Despite administration officials maintaining for months that foreign companies, not U.S. consumers, would bear the costs of tariffs, prices for many of the agricultural products targeted by Trump’s latest tariff-cutting blitz have been rising since Trump took office.
Wholesale coffee prices are up 33% on last year, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Meanwhile, banana prices are up 9%.
The National Coffee Association said Friday that the tariff cuts should lower prices.
“Tariff-free trade of America’s favorite beverage will ease cost-of-living pressures,” the group’s president and CEO Bill Murray said in a statement. “Two-thirds of American adults drink coffee each day, and every cup will cost less thanks to President Trump’s decision to remove tariffs on coffee imports from Brazil - the world’s largest coffee producer.”
The International Fresh Produce Association also welcomed the move.
"Brazil is a key global supplier of fruits and other agricultural inputs that complement U.S. production," the group said in a statement. "Easing tariffs on these products—especially those that support year-round access to nutritious foods—is an important step toward ensuring they can enter the U.S. market without excessive duties."
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