Bessent: Coffee, Banana Tariffs Will Be Reduced in Days
President Donald Trump told a TV interviewer that there would be "surgical" reductions to reciprocal tariffs, and that he intends to lower tariffs on coffee.
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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was asked by a television interviewer Nov. 12 about that remark from the night before, and he said that while it's tough to make a specific change to tariffs, "You're going to see substantial announcements over the next couple of days in terms of things we don't grow here in the United States. Coffee being one of them, bananas, other fruits, things like that. So that will bring the prices down very quickly."
The White House put out a list of "Potential Tariff Adjustments for Aligned Partners" in September that included a wide range of goods eligible for country-specific cuts as part of tariff deals (see [Ref;2509080021]).
Bessent was also asked about recent remarks by the president that there would be $2,000 tariff dividends for moderate income households, and he responded that it would be only for families making less than $100,000, if it happens, but that the policy is still "under discussion."
On Nov. 11, Trump was asked about tariff talks with India, and he said they were getting close to a deal to reduce tariffs on their goods. "At some point, we will be bringing them down."
Trump also was asked to confirm reports that tariffs on Swiss goods would be changed from 39% to 15%. He declined to provide a number, but said the tariff level on Switzerland would be lowered, though he added, "And we're working on increasing others' [rates] a little bit, too."