Business & Economics
White House Lifts Tariffs on Coffee, Bananas and Beef via Four-Nation Latin American Frameworks
On 13 Nov 2025 the Trump administration abruptly pivoted from its April “Liberation Day” duties, unveiling new trade frameworks and broader exemptions that scrap or cut tariffs on key grocery imports to blunt soaring food prices at home.
Focusing Facts
- The 13 Nov 2025 frameworks keep baseline reciprocal tariffs at 10 % for Argentina, Guatemala and El Salvador and 15 % for Ecuador, but zero-rate items like coffee, bananas, cocoa and selected beef cuts.
- A September 2025 executive order had limited exemptions to nations already holding U.S. trade pacts; the new move extends waivers to countries without prior deals, contradicting the earlier rule set.
- Retail coffee prices were 41 % higher year-on-year in the latest September CPI release, making them the steepest food price increase cited by officials supporting the rollback.
Context
Washington has yo-yoed on tariffs before: after the 1930 Smoot-Hawley spike, the 1934 Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act slashed duties in response to voter pain during the Great Depression, and Nixon’s 1971 ‘Phase I’ controls similarly mixed protectionism with later import relief when food costs spiked. The 2025 reversal fits that cyclical pattern—tariffs first deployed for geopolitical leverage, then relaxed when domestic inflation and mid-term politics bite (Republicans lost Virginia & New Jersey governorships just a week earlier). It also underscores two longer arcs: the executive’s expanding unilateral trade power (now under Supreme Court review) and the shift from multilateral WTO rules to ad-hoc “friend-shoring” with ideologically aligned governments like Milei’s Argentina. Over a 100-year horizon, such episodic retreats hint at a fractured but enduring globalisation—one defined less by uniform free trade than by fluid, politically driven carve-outs that can swing prices and alliances far more rapidly than traditional treaty cycles.
Perspectives
US center-left media
e.g., The New York Times, Mediaite — Portrays the tariff exemptions as a political retreat forced by soaring grocery bills and recent Democratic electoral wins, suggesting Trump is back-tracking on a signature policy he once touted as a success. Coverage stresses the president’s misstatements on prices and the supposed ‘rollback’ narrative, foregrounding partisan failures and minimizing any potential economic upside — consistent with outlets that often scrutinize Trump’s policies.
US right-leaning media
e.g., Washington Examiner — Frames the Latin-American trade deals as proof of Trump’s hard-nosed negotiating style that keeps core tariffs in place while still delivering price relief and new export openings for American producers. Favorable emphasis on strategic triumph and market access glosses over critics’ claim that Trump’s own tariffs helped inflate prices, reflecting an incentive to cast the administration’s moves as a win.
International business & foreign press
e.g., Financial Times News, South China Morning Post — Treats the announcements primarily as technical trade frameworks aimed at lowering consumer costs and deepening economic ties, detailing reciprocal concessions by both sides with limited partisan framing. By focusing on deal mechanics and mutual benefits, this coverage tends to sidestep the domestic political stakes and may lean on official talking points, offering a more transactional but less critical narrative.