WASHINGTON — The US administration has rolled back tariffs on more than 200 food products, including such staples as coffee, beef, bananas and orange juice, in the face of growing angst among US consumers about the high cost of groceries.

The new exemptions mark a sharp reversal for US President Donald Trump, who has long insisted that the sweeping import duties he imposed earlier this year are not fueling inflation.

"They may in some cases" raise prices, Trump said of his tariffs when asked about the move aboard Air Force One on Friday evening. But he insisted that overall, the US has "virtually no inflation".

The administration released on Friday the executive order to modify the scope of the reciprocal tariffs first announced on April 2. The order took effect on Thursday. Duties already collected will be refunded.

Trump also told reporters aboard Air Force One that he would move forward with a $2,000 payment to lower — and middle-income US citizens that would be funded by tariff revenues sometime next year.

"The tariffs allow us to give a dividend if we want to do that. Now we're going to do a dividend and we're also reducing debt," he said.

Friday's list includes products US consumers routinely purchase to feed their families at home, many of which have seen double-digit year-over-year price increases. It includes over 200 items ranging from oranges, acai berries and paprika to cocoa, chemicals used in food production, fertilizers and even communion wafers.

The US administration slapped tariffs on most countries around the globe in April. Trump and his administration say tariffs don't increase consumer prices, despite economic evidence to the contrary.

The US Consumer Price Index year-over-year growth was 3 percent for September 2025, slightly up from 2.9 percent in August 2025. In particular, beef and veal prices in September increased by 14.7 percent year on year, with coffee prices up 18.9 percent.

"President Trump is finally admitting what we always knew: his tariffs are raising prices for the American people," said US Representative Don Beyer in a statement.

Voters' fury

"After getting drubbed in recent elections because of voters' fury that Trump has broken his promises to fix inflation, the White House is trying to cast this tariff retreat as a 'pivot to affordability,'" said Beyer, who is pushing for legislation to rein in US presidential powers on setting tariffs.

Asked if further changes were planned, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, "I don't think it'll be necessary."

"We just did a little bit of a rollback," he said. "The prices of coffee were a little bit high, now they'll be on the low side in a very short period."

Although the tariff exemptions won praise from some industry groups, consumers have remained frustrated over high grocery prices, which economists say have been fueled in part by import tariffs and could rise further next year as companies start passing on the full brunt of the import duties.

The top Democrat on the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, Richard Neal, said the Trump administration was "putting out a fire that they started and claiming it as progress".

"The Trump administration is finally admitting publicly what we've all known from the start: Trump's Trade War is hiking costs on people," Neal said in a statement. "Since implementing these tariffs, inflation has increased and manufacturing has contracted month after month."

Agencies - Xinhua