President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order exempting a range of food imports — including coffee, beef and bananas — from his reciprocal tariff policies.
The White House said the president had "determined that certain agricultural products shall no longer be subject to the reciprocal tariffs." Among the items being exempted are coffee, tea, tropical fruits, fruit juices, cocoa, oranges and tomatoes, the White House said.
The rollback comes amid nationwide complaints of high grocery prices, despite Trump's campaign pledge to lower prices.
Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., the ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee, said in a statement the administration is "finally admitting publicly what we’ve all known from the start: Trump’s Trade War is hiking costs on people."
He said the administration is putting "out a fire they started and claiming it as progress."
Trump's order comes a little more than a week after Democrats defeated Republican gubernatorial candidates in Virginia and New Jersey.
NBC News polling showed that the vast majority of voters — about two-thirds — think Trump hasn’t lived up to his promises to curb inflation and improve the economy.
