United States (US) President Donald Trump has announced a 90-day pause on “reciprocal” tariffs, with all trading countries except China now subject to a 10 per cent baseline tariff rate.
President Trump made the announcement on his social media site Truth Social just hours after the tariffs announced on 2 April came into effect. In the post, he said China would be subject to 125 per cent import tariffs effective immediately.
“Based on the lack of respect China has shown to the World’s markets, I am hereby raising the Tariff charged to China by the United States of America to 125%, effective immediately,” President Trump said in the post.
Data from the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service reports the US imported US$22.47 million worth of coffee, coffee husks, and substitutes from China in 2023.
When the import tariffs were announced on 2 April, including a 46 per cent for Vietnam, 32 per cent for Indonesia, and 26 per cent for India, world coffee prices fell as investors worried that President Trump‘s tariffs would damage coffee demand in the world’s top consumer of the product.
Following the news of the pause, stocks markets in the US surged, recovering some of the losses from the previous week.
