By Andrea Shalal and Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States said on Thursday it will remove tariffs on some foods and other imports from Argentina, Ecuador, Guatemala and El Salvador under framework agreements that will give U.S. firms greater access to those markets.
The agreements are expected to help lower prices for coffee, bananas and other foodstuffs, a senior Trump administration official told reporters, adding the administration expected U.S. retailers to pass on the positive effects to American consumers.
The framework deals with most of the four countries should be finalized within the next two weeks, the official said, with additional agreements seen as possible before the end of the year.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday said the U.S. planned some “substantial” announcements in coming days that would lead to lower prices on coffee, bananas and other fruits, as part of a push by the Trump administration to drive down the cost of living for Americans.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Brazil’s Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira discussed a framework for a U.S.-Brazil trade relationship in a meeting this week, the U.S. State Department said on Thursday.
Brazil is the world’s largest coffee producer and exporter but its exports to the U.S. face crushing 50% duties imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Trump has focused intensely on the issue of affordability after a string of defeats for Republican candidates in last week’s elections, while insisting that any higher costs were triggered by policies enacted by former President Joe Biden, and not his own sweeping tariffs.
Democratic wins in New Jersey, New York and Virginia, driven in part by cost-of-living concerns, revealed growing angst among voters over high prices, which economists say has been fueled in part by import tariffs imposed by Trump on nearly every country.
The New York Times on Thursday reported the Trump administration was considering further tariff exemptions on imported food products such as beef and citrus to ease prices, including from countries that have not reached trade agreements with the U.S. A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the story.
U.S. officials were having “quite constructive” talks with other Central and South American countries, and could conclude more trade deals before the end of the year, the official said, adding that trade talks with Switzerland and Taiwan on Thursday had also been quite positive.
Officials in Argentina, El Salvador, Guatemala and Ecuador welcomed the deals.
The framework agreements announced on Thursday would maintain 10% tariffs on most goods from El Salvador, Guatemala and Argentina, where the U.S. had modest trade surpluses, and 15% for imports from Ecuador, where the U.S. had a trade deficit.
But they will result in the removal of U.S. tariffs on a number of items that are not grown, mined or produced in the United States, the official said, listing as examples bananas and coffee from Ecuador.
The deals, similar to those announced with Asian countries in October, included commitments to refrain from digital services taxes on U.S. companies, along with the removal of tariffs on U.S. agricultural and industrial goods, the official said.
“With all of these deals, the ones in Asia, the ones we’re announcing today, we maintain the tariffs, we give some tariff relief on certain products or goods, but at the same time, we open up foreign markets in ways that they have not been open before,” the official said.
Argentine Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno said the deal framework would “create the conditions” to boost U.S. investment in Argentina, thanking Argentina’s libertarian President Javier Milei for his “conviction” around the agreement.
El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, another outspoken Trump ally, shared the announcement on X, captioning it “friends.” His ambassador in Washington, Milena Mayorga, celebrated the decision, adding that the two “sister nations” have “rebuilt their relations on the basis of trust and self-determination.”
Bukele’s Guatemalan counterpart, Bernardo Arevalo, said the deal was good news for Guatemala’s economy. The agreement “places us as an even more competitive and more attractive country for investment,” Arevalo said in a video on social media.
The government of Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa, who has allied himself closely with the Trump administration on anti-narcotics and migration efforts, also cheered the deal, saying in a statement on social media that it would boost the country’s export sector. Ecuador is a major exporter of bananas and shrimp, as well as oil.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal and Kanishka Singh in Washington; Additional reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt and David Lawder in Washington, Natalia Siniawski in Mexico City, Sofia Menchu in Guatemala City,and Alexandra Valencia in Quito; Writing by Andrea Shalal and Brendan O’Boyle; Editing by Leslie Adler, Matthew Lewis and Lincoln Feast.)
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