Donald Trump announced Friday that he was scrapping U.S. tariffs on beef, coffee, tropical fruits and a broad swath of other commodities — a dramatic move that comes amid mounting pressure on his administration to better combat high consumer prices.
Trump has built his second term around imposing steep levies on goods imported into the U.S. in hopes of encouraging domestic production and lifting the U.S. economy. His abrupt retreat from his signature tariff policy on so many staples key to the American diet is significant, and it comes after voters in off-year elections this month cited economic concerns as their top issue, resulting in big wins for Democrats in Virginia, New Jersey and other key races around the country.
This is the case for most of US exports. There’s a unique situation where we have the infrastructure/capital to produce some actually good stuff, but at the same time American consumers have no standards. The good stuff gets sent abroad to discerning markets and we import cheap slop to sell here. I can’t think of another country whose domestic production oversteps its own markets quite like America
We can’t afford standards.