The White House announced on Thursday (November 13) new trade framework deals with Argentina, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Ecuador aimed at reducing the costs of certain groceries. These agreements are part of President Donald Trump‘s efforts to address rising food prices, particularly for bananas and coffee, which have seen significant price increases over the past year.
The new trade frameworks focus on reducing non-tariff barriers and providing tariff relief on select products from these countries. According to a senior administration official, the deal with Argentina will exempt beef from the existing 10 percent tariff, although it does not change the quota for beef exports to the U.S. The agreements with the other countries primarily focus on non-tariff trade barriers, including commitments to refrain from imposing digital services taxes and addressing intellectual property disputes.
Politico reports that the agreements are expected to be finalized within two weeks, with some tariff relief on products like bananas and coffee from Ecuador. The U.S. will also exempt certain textile and apparel products from Guatemala and El Salvador.
The Trump administration hopes these deals will help alleviate the burden of rising grocery costs on American consumers. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent indicated that the administration plans to announce further actions to reduce prices on grocery items that are not produced domestically, such as coffee and bananas.
In addition, officials also announced a trade deal with Sweden, lowing tariffs to 15%.
“We’ve essentially reached a deal with Switzerland,” U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CNBC’s Squawk Box on Friday morning.
“They’re going to send a lot of manufacturing here to the United States — pharmaceuticals, gold smelting, railway equipment — so we’re really excited about that deal and what it means for American manufacturing.”
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