A specialty coffee roasting company based in New York City, Coffee Bros., is appealing to the federal government to exclude coffee from the extensive new tariffs declared by President Donald Trump.
The founding brothers of the company initiated a petition on Change.org. They stated that these tariffs pose a threat to “disrupt the American coffee industry, increase prices for consumers, and damage long – established international supply relationships.”
“Coffee isn’t steel. It isn’t cars. It can’t be brought back to production in the Midwest,” remarked Dan Hunnewell, the co – founder of Coffee Bros., in an announcement. “We require trade policies that mirror the actuality of our supply chain, not ones that penalize those who depend on it.”
Trump presented the tariffs as “reciprocal,” basing them on trade deficits. Regarding green coffee, the United States has a deficit of over 99% naturally. This is because Puerto Rico and Hawaii, the two regions in the U.S. where green coffee is commercially produced, contribute less than half of 1% of the world’s coffee output.
Meanwhile, the U.S. is highly reliant on imports from major green coffee suppliers like Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Honduras. All these countries are among the 15 leading coffee – producing nations, whose exports are now subject to new tariffs ranging from 10% to 46%.
“Coffee producers in origin countries, many of whom have dedicated years or even decades to sustainable, high – quality cultivation to meet U.S. demand, are also in jeopardy,” said Coffee Bros. “With U.S. buyers potentially reducing purchases or switching to cheaper sources, these farmers might be compelled to redirect their coffee beans to other markets, undermining years of economic development and cooperation.”
The leaders of the two largest coffee trade associations in the U.S. – the National Coffee Association and the Specialty Coffee Association (with a presence in the U.S. and Europe) – issued separate statements to DCN last week after Trump’s announcement.
Neither of them clearly opposed the tariffs, yet each indicated that government policies should take coffee prices into consideration.
Before last week’s “Liberation Day” announcement at the White House, the NCA had called for coffee to be exempted from the new tariffs.
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