August 6, 2025 — U.S. retail and restaurant trade groups are urging President Donald Trump to lower tariffs and pursue other measures to achieve his trade goals after he recently issued an executive order implementing new duty rates on 69 countries and the European Union.
“We encourage the [Trump] administration to negotiate binding trade agreements that truly open markets by lowering tariffs, not raising them,” National Retail Federation Executive Vice President of Government Relations David French said. “These higher tariffs will hurt Americans, including consumers, retailers and their employees, and manufacturers because the direct result of tariffs will be higher prices, decreased hiring, fewer capital expenditures, and slower innovation.”