U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday (November 14) rolled back tariffs on more than 200 food products, including such staples as coffee, beef, bananas and orange juice, in the face of growing angst among American consumers about the high cost of groceries.

The new exemptions - which took effect retroactively at midnight on Thursday (November 13) - mark a sharp reversal for Trump, who has long insisted that the sweeping import duties he imposed earlier this year are not fueling inflation.

Trump insisted that overall, the U.S. has "virtually no inflation,'' when asked about the move aboard Air Force One on Friday evening.

Democrats have won a string of victories in state and local elections in Virginia, New Jersey and New York City, where growing voter concerns about affordability, including high food prices, were a key topic.

Trump also told reporters aboard Air Force One that he would move forward with a $2,000 payment to lower- and middle-income Americans that would be funded by tariff revenues next year sometime. "The tariffs allow us to give a dividend if we want to do that. Now we're going to do a dividend and we're also reducing debt," he said.

The Trump administration announced framework trade deals on Thursday that, once finalized, will eliminate tariffs on certain foods and other imports from Argentina, Ecuador, Guatemala and El Salvador, with U.S. officials eyeing additional agreements before year's end.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

1. U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP APPROACHING JOURNALISTS ON BOARD AIR FORCE ONE

2. WHITE FLASH

3. (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT, DONALD TRUMP, IN EXCHANGE WITH OFF CAMERA JOURNALIST, SAYING:

JOURNALIST: Mr. President, you've said that tariffs do not increase prices for consumers, but now you're lowering…”

TRUMP: “I didn’t say they don’t, I say they may in some cases, but to a large extent they've been brought to the country as an example. We have virtually no inflation, and yet we've taken in hundreds of billions of dollars. So we've taken in hundreds of billions of dollars. We've used tariffs to stop wars.”

4. WHITE FLASH

5. (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT, DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:

“When I pay people $2,000 each for low and moderate income and middle income people, everybody but the rich will get this, that's not made up. That's real money that comes from other countries. Yeah.”

6. WHITE FLASH

7. (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT, DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:

“It’s a lot of money, but we've taken in a lot of money from tariffs. The tariffs allow us to give a dividend, if we want to do that. Now, we're going to do a dividend and we’re also going to be reducing debt. We have, because of Biden (former U.S. President Joe Biden) and others, we have a 37 trillion in debt. So we're going to be doing a dividend which people will enjoy and spend and do what they want. But we're also going to be reducing debt very substantially.”

8. WHITE FLASH

9. TRUMP WALKING AWAY FROM JOURNALISTS