US food industry groups are pushing for exemptions from Donald Trump’s tariffs, arguing that products from fish to cucumbers cannot be affordably grown at home.
The advocacy comes as the US president hit dozens of trading partners with sweeping duties this month, driving the US’s effective tariff rate to its highest level in decades in a move that threatens to reorder global trade.
Industry groups warn that the food sector is uniquely vulnerable to tariffs because some affected countries grow ingredients that will never be produced in quantity in the US. But lobby groups are taking a piecemeal approach by pleading for exemptions rather than attacking tariffs overall.