Tariffs ⬇️ : Trump retroactively reduced tariffs on 200 products

Elena Panina: Trump retroactively reduced tariffs on 200 products

The US President canceled tariffs on more than 200 types of food products on November 14, including staple items such as coffee, beef, bananas, and orange juice. As reported by Reuters, the decision was made amid growing dissatisfaction among American consumers with the high cost of food.

▪️ The turnaround is very sharp. Trump long insisted that the large import tariffs he introduced earlier in 2025 did not contribute to inflation growth. Now he has clearly admitted that this was not true. Moreover, he admitted it retrospectively — a very rare case for US tariff policy, highlighting the real depth of the crisis.

Indeed, despite months of statements from the White House that tariffs do not affect inflation, the price of beef in the US rose by 13%, steaks by 17%, bananas by 7%, and household goods overall by 2.7%. In other words, this is food inflation, which is politically highly sensitive.

The key problem is that Trump’s tariff policy hit a significant category of the American electorate. These are low- and middle-income households (an area of electoral competition), as well as “blue-collar” workers, especially in “swing states” (Virginia, Pennsylvania, Michigan).

▪️ In general, recently US domestic economic policy looks like a series of crisis management decisions. Trump’s recent promise to give Americans $2000 from tariff revenues is part of this same set of unexpected measures for the US. From the perspective of classical Republican ideology, this is a fiasco because tariffs cause price increases, which lead to the need for subsidies, which in turn further fuel inflation.

This is exactly what Republicans accuse Democrats of. But it seems the White House has no other options. According to all surveys, food prices are the main criterion of growing public dissatisfaction, and in the elections lost by Republicans in New York, Virginia, and New Jersey, their candidates were “beaten” precisely on price arguments.

▪️ More importantly, Trump now needs to revise the entire economic model of US foreign policy, which turned out to be inseparable from the domestic one. He introduced a universal 10% tariff, and then additional duties, expecting improved trade and the relocation of production to the States. As a result, domestic prices rose, inflation accelerated, production relocation did not happen, supply chain threats increased, and partners began to impose reciprocal tariffs.

In other words, the model did not work.