Coffee Bros. press photo.
New York City-based specialty coffee roasting company Coffee Bros. is calling on the federal government to exempt coffee from the sweeping new tariffs announced by President Donald Trump.
The company’s founding brothers launched a Change.org petition, saying that tariffs threaten to “disrupt the American coffee industry, drive up prices for consumers and undermine long-standing international supply relationships.”
“Coffee is not steel. It’s not cars. It’s not something you can re-shore to the Midwest,” Coffee Bros. Co-Founder Dan Hunnewell said in an announcement. “We need trade policies that reflect the reality of our supply chain — not ones that punish those who rely on it.”
Trump framed the tariffs as “reciprocal,” based on trade deficits. Thus, for green coffee, the United States would naturally be at a 99%+ deficit, given that Puerto Rico and Hawaii — the two places in the U.S. in which green coffee is produced at commercial scale — produce less than half of 1% of the world’s coffee.
Meanwhile, the U.S. relies heavily on imports from major green coffee suppliers such as Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Honduras. All of those countries are among the 15 major coffee-producing countries whose exports are being subjected to new tariffs ranging from 10% to 46%.
“Coffee producers in origin countries, many of whom have invested years or decades into sustainable, high-quality cultivation to meet U.S. demand, are also at risk,” Coffee Bros. said. “With U.S. buyers potentially scaling back or shifting to cheaper sources, these farmers may be forced to redirect their beans to other markets, undermining years of economic progress and partnership.”
The heads of the two largest trade associations for coffee in the U.S. — the National Coffee Association and the U.S.- and Europe-based Specialty Coffee Association — made separate statements to DCN last week following Trump’s announcement.
Neither voiced clear opposition to the tariffs, although each suggested government policies should take coffee prices into account.
Prior to last week’s “Liberation Day” announcement at the White House, the NCA had called for coffee to be exempt from new tariffs.
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