WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- The White House issued an executive order to eliminate punitive tariffs on some agricultural products from Brazil on Thursday.

The refund of the duties collected since April 13, when the executive order took effect, will be handled by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The newly added exemption list covers around 250 categories in the 8-digit subheadings of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States, including coffee, bovine meat, tomatoes, tea, spices, fruits and nuts.

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on July 30 to impose as much as 40 percent punitive tariffs on Brazilian goods from Aug. 6, citing the "politically motivated persecution" of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and Brazil's actions as "a threat to U.S. national security and the economy" as the basis for the action.

Amid a persistent affordability crisis, the White House recently issued an executive order to eliminate reciprocal tariffs on certain agricultural products to ease rising prices.

U.S. voters were broadly critical of tariffs, with 63 percent of respondents saying they disapprove of how the Trump administration is handling them, according to the latest Fox News Poll published on Thursday. Enditem