United States (US) specialty roaster Coffee Bros. has started a petition in an attempt to get the federal government to immediately exempt coffee from the newly imposed tariffs.
The petition, titled Exempt Coffee from Tariffs: Protect American Small Businesses and Preserve Coffee Quality, has already gained traction online. Coffee Bros. says the tariffs threaten to disrupt the US coffee industry, drive up prices for consumers, and undermine long-standing international supply relationships.
“These policies are misaligned with the nature of the coffee industry,” says Dan Hunnewell, Co-Founder of Coffee Bros.
“Coffee cannot be manufactured at scale in the United States. Hawaii and Puerto Rico produce less than 1 per cent of what Americans consume, making tariffs not only unnecessary but deeply harmful.”
On 2 April, President Donald Trump announced sweeping import tariffs on many of the world’s largest coffee producing countries, including Vietnam which will be subject to 46 per cent import tax.
Alongside Vietnam, there will be a 32 per cent duty on imports from Indonesia, 26 per cent duty on imports from India, 18 per cent duty on imports from Nicaragua, and a 10 per cent duty on imports for Bolivia, Brazil, Burundi, Colombia, Costa Rica, DR Congo, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Kenya, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Yemen.
“Coffee is not steel. It’s not cars. It’s not something you can reshore to the Midwest,” says Hunnewell. “We need trade policies that reflect the reality of our supply chain — not ones that punish those who rely on it.”
