U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday removed his 40% tariffs on Brazilian food products, including beef, coffee, cocoa and fruits that were imposed in July to punish Brazil over the prosecution of its former president, Trump ally Jair Bolsonaro.
The move follows a similar order by the administration last Friday to remove tariffs on several agricultural products from other countries as the White House makes a U-turn on some tariffs that have increased the cost of food in the United States.
The order will affect Brazilian imports to the U.S. on or after November 13 and may require a refund of the duties collected on those goods while the tariffs were still being charged, according to the text of the order released by the White House.
Brazil normally supplies a third of the coffee used in the United States, the world’s largest coffee drinker, and has more recently become an important supplier of beef, particularly the type that is used to make burgers.
U.S. retail coffee prices rose as much as 40% this year due to the tariffs and other market factors such as weather-induced production shortfalls.
Rising food prices are a major factor behind Trump’s declining approval ratings, which have fallen to their lowest since his return to power, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.
“You can expect some thousands of bags of Brazilian coffee that were sitting in bonded warehouses to start moving quickly to U.S. roasters,” said commodities analyst Judith Ganes, president of J. Ganes Consulting.
Bonded warehouses are storage facilities where importers can leave products without paying import duties.
Several importers stored products in those facilities after the heavy Brazilian tariffs were announced, while they waited for an eventual revision of the duties.
“The decision (to lift Brazil tariffs) shows the effectiveness of the trade negotiations,” said Brazilian beef industry group ABIEC, adding it will continue to work to increase its share in the market.
