Officials in the Commerce Department and US trade representative's office believe the tariffs were hurting consumers by raising prices for goods including pie tins and food-and-drink cans, the FT report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
Voters nationwide are worried about consumer prices and cost-of-living concerns are expected to be a major factor for Americans heading into the November midterm elections.
A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll showed that 30 per cent of Americans approved of Trump's handling of the rising cost of living, while 59 per cent disapproved, including nine in 10 Democrats and one in five Republicans.
Trump hit steel and aluminium imports with tariffs of up to 50 per cent in 2025 and has repeatedly used levies as a negotiating tool with a range of trading partners.
The Trump administration is now reviewing a list of products affected by the levies and plans to exempt some items, halt the expansion of the lists and instead launch more targeted national security probes into specific goods, the FT report said.
The White House and the Commerce Department did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment outside of regular business hours.
Trump recently touted his economic record in Detroit, aiming to refocus attention on US manufacturing and his efforts to tackle high consumer costs as the White House seeks to show it is addressing the economic anxieties gripping US households.
The US Commerce Department in 2025 hiked steel and aluminium tariffs on more than 400 products including wind turbines, mobile cranes, appliances, bulldozers and other heavy equipment, along with railcars, motorcycles, marine engines, furniture and hundreds of other products.
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