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Friday Nov 14 2025 00:00
2 min
Under mounting pressure to address a cost-of-living crisis impacting millions of households, top US officials have hinted that the government is considering adjustments to tariffs on essential grocery items.
National Economic Council Chairman Kevin Hassett suggested at an event in Washington that the government may look at adjusting tariffs on food items as a way to help lower prices. “One of the things that’s been discussed in recent days is looking at adjustments on food tariffs,” Hassett said. “I think that there will be more adjustments coming.”
Earlier, US Treasury Secretary Benth revealed that the Trump administration planned to issue a “major announcement” in the coming days aimed at moderating food prices, including coffee, bananas, and “other fruits.”
These remarks follow a string of electoral defeats for the US administration in the New York City mayoral race and several gubernatorial elections last week. Trump-backed candidates lost by wider-than-expected margins, partly due to voter concerns about the impact of tariffs on rising prices and increased financial strain on households.
While the impact of the trade war initiated by Trump was milder than many economists had predicted, it did contribute modestly to inflation over the year.
Hassett noted that the current inflation rate of 3% is moving in the right direction but acknowledged that grocery prices had further increased during Trump's tenure. “When President Trump left office in 2021, the typical household monthly grocery expenditure was about $400. When President Biden left, it was about $510. Now it’s at $512, so President Trump had a rate of grocery price increase that was almost zero. But to ‘make up’ the previous increase remains a serious challenge that we are paying close attention to.”
In August, Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on most of the US’s trading partners, leading to increased taxes on many imported food items. His actions pushed the average US tariff level to its highest point since World War II.
The US has provided waivers from retaliatory tariffs for some sectors, such as chips, pharmaceuticals, and critical minerals, but has simultaneously initiated investigations that could lead to additional tariffs on these sectors in the future. Many countries are seeking limited agreements with the US to reduce some of the tariffs imposed by Trump, but the US government still retains a minimum benchmark tariff of 10% on almost all of its trading partners.
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