Trump's Colombia tariff threat raises fears on coffee prices [View all]

Source: Axios

Updated 8 hours ago


President Trump's threat to impose retaliatory 25% tariffs on Colombia briefly ignited fears of a further surge in already high coffee prices.

Why it matters: Beans from Colombia make up 20% of U.S. coffee imports, and the only source larger, Brazil, is struggling with weak crops after a series of weather disasters.

Catch up quick: On Sunday Trump said he would impose an emergency 25% tariffs on all goods imported from Colombia — rising to 50% in one week — after the country refused to accept two deportation flights from the U.S.

A few hours later, the White House said it was pausing those tariffs after Colombia agreed to Trump's terms.

Zoom out: Coffee prices were already surging before the tariff threat.

Coffee futures are up 45% in the last six months.

Bloomberg reported last week that wholesale prices recently eclipsed all-time highs set in the late 1970s, and that it was only a matter of days to a few weeks until retail prices followed suit.

As it stands, consumer coffee prices are already at multi-decade highs, per Consumer Price Index data.

Read more: https://www.axios.com/2025/01/26/trump-colombia-tariffs-coffee

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Since coffee is a global commodity, even if something like this didn't impact other coffee export countries like Ethiopia or Jamaica or even here, with Hawai'i's kona crop, the commodities market sets the price trends.

Meanwhile I have a coffee plant overwintering in my basement at the moment. Am hoping that it will have its first bloom this year (it'll be 8 years old this year so now coming into maturity).