Beef and bananas: US unveils Latin America trade deals
WASHINGTON
The White House has announced trade agreements with Argentina, Guatemala, Ecuador and El Salvador, the latest deals since President Donald Trump imposed sweeping tariffs around the world.
Bananas and coffee are among the groceries whose prices could fall for stretched U.S. consumers, it said, amid growing discontent about the cost of living under Trump's second presidency.
The four countries agreed to open their markets to U.S. products while Washington grants tariff relief on some items in return, the White House said.
"Our expectation is that there'll be some positive effects for prices, for things like coffee, cocoa, bananas,” a senior U.S. administration official told reporters.
The deals are also a reward for leaders that are friendly towards the Trump administration.
They include beef-producing Argentina, whose libertarian president Javier Milei visited the White House last month, and El Salvador's Nayib Bukele, the self-styled "world's coolest dictator."
"Friends," Bukele said in a post on social media, along with a copy of a joint statement with the United States.
Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo, whose country signed a deal with the Trump administration earlier this year to take back migrants, hailed his country's "strong relationship" with Washington.
