US trade chief says Trump now ready to issue tariff exemptions on some food products

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson ​Greer said on Friday that the ‌President Donald Trump was ready to follow through with ‌pledges to grant tariff exemptions on some food and other products that are not produced in the U.S.

Greer told CNBC ⁠in a ‌live interview that there were some “micro-areas” of ‍trade in products not produced in the U.S., such as coffee, cocoa ​and bananas, where the U.‌S. does not need tariffs. He said the timing was right for this after making trade deals with four Latin American countries on Thursday.

“And so ⁠the President’s determined,​ now that we ​have this in place, we have these deals in hand, ‍it’s ⁠time to take off some of these tariffs on products. Products ⁠we don’t make here.” ‌

(‌Reporting by David Lawder)