Masala Chai! As Americans go bananas over tariffs, Trump smells the coffee, eases import duties; relief for Indian tea and spices

The TOI correspondent from Washington: Indian spice merchants and tea growers will be among global exporters who will breathe a sigh of relief along with American consumers after US President Donald Trump, feeling the heat of rising domestic prices due to tariffs, moved to lower import duties on nearly 200 food, farm, and agricultural items.

While coffee from Brazil, beef from Argentina, and bananas and other fruits from Latin and Central American countries made headlines for Trump’s tariff rollback stemming from domestic disquiet about cost of living, tucked deep in the so-called TACO (Trump always chickens out) list is a range of spices including black pepper, cloves, cumin, cardamom, turmeric, ginger etc, varieties of tea, mango derivatives, and some nuts including cashew, all of which India exports to the U.S.

Indian spice exports to the U.S was valued at more than $ 500 million in 2024, and the U.S imported tea from India worth nearly $ 90 million in the same period. The U.S also imported $843 million worth of fresh or dried cashew nuts -- which also got a break -- from across the world, with India accounting for around 20 percent of the imports. Not making the cut however are Indian seafoods, including shrimp, and basmati rice, which are multi-BILLION dollar exports from India to the U.S.

Indian gems, jewelry, and apparel too remain under 50 percent US tariff+sanctions, pending a trade deal that Trump has said will happen once New Delhi turns off the Russian oil spigot and steps up buying U.S energy. Effectively, the exemptions apply only to about $500 million to $ 1 billion in qualifying agricultural exports from India, potentially boosting competitiveness and stabilizing market access amid a 37% drop in India's overall U.S.

exports since the tariffs hit. The broader challenges posed by the U.S.'s punitive 50% tariffs on most Indian goods (imposed in August 2025 over India's Russian oil purchases) remain.

Trump’s rollback, announced through an executive order he signed on Friday, comes amid growing disquiet across the country over cost of living, reflected in voter dissatisfaction that led to a GOP rout in by elections at the hands of Democrats who campaigned on the “affordability” message. The U.S President has also floated the idea of using tariff revenue to issue $2,000 rebate checks to Americans and launched a probe into the meat packing industry following Americans’ beef over high prices. U.S trade associations and political and economic commentators expressed relief at the President’s rollback, which came even as he insisted his tariffs have not increased cost of living and prices have actually come down.

"Trump just reduced tariffs on beef and coffee because people are so pissed off about groceries, and the recent election kicked him in the nuts over it,” read one social media post. The President and his minions are accused of being tone deaf to cost of living issues that prompted one wag to remark “My budget and my reality are not on speaking terms anymore.” The subject became a lighting rod for criticism after Trump hosted a Gatsby-themed Halloween party at his Mara-a-Lago estate and embarked on building an extravagant ballroom bigger than the White House it will be attached to – all the while preening about what critics describe as a gilded Oval Office now garishly overlaid with gold curios and accents.