{"id":150174,"date":"2025-08-16T09:46:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T09:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/150174\/"},"modified":"2025-08-16T09:46:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T09:46:09","slug":"trumps-cold-brew-new-york-coffee-shops-warn-of-higher-prices-amid-steep-tariffs-trump-tariffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/150174\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s cold brew: New York coffee shops warn of higher prices amid steep tariffs | Trump tariffs"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Trump administration has targeted Brazil with steep US tariffs of 50%. Coffee shops in the heart of New York<\/a> are bracing for impact.<\/p>\n

When the Trump administration announced another wave of sweeping tariffs, particularly on Brazil<\/a>, Stone Street Cafe\u2019s managing partner was first confused. Then came fear. A cafe already runs on slim margins and extra costs passed on from tariffs could risk everything.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf these tariffs are long term, it will put our business in jeopardy,\u201d Antony Garrigues, <\/strong>managing partner of Stone Street Cafe, said. \u201cIn New York City, the operating costs are already so high,<\/strong> and these tariffs will make everything much more expensive.<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/strong>In the end,<\/strong> if people cannot afford our coffee,<\/strong> and we do not have a profit margin, we will not make it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stone Street Cafe, based in Manhattan, sources green coffee beans from more than 35 different countries, including Brazil. But Brazil is not the only coffee-producing nation facing tariff pressures: Vietnam, Colombia<\/a>, Ethiopia and Indonesia are also affected.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese tariffs are not paid by the country. The costs are passed down to the business owner, and consumer,\u201d noted Garrigues. \u201cFor now, we are going to try and absorb as much [of] the cost as we can. But at the end of the day, this is a business \u2013 so we may have to increase the prices.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the growing effects of climate change already inflating coffee prices, other cafes have already done so.<\/p>\n

Aside from coffee Ciao Gloria, in Brooklyn, also imports cocoa powder from Brazil. Jams sourced from Italy now face Trump\u2019s 15% tariff on exports from the European Union. The cafe raised prices by about 25 cents per cup, but plans to absorb any additional tariffs costs, at least for now.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m selling sugar and caffeine \u2013 I\u2019m basically a drug dealer,\u201d joked owner Renato Poliafito. \u201cSo I want to make sure the menu is affordable.\u201d<\/p>\n

But then he turned serious. \u201cWe have to be vigilant about analyzing the situation before jumping to price increases.\u201d<\/p>\n

Customers are already scrutinizing their receipts. US coffee prices rose 14.5% in the year to July, according to official data.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s this idea of shifting baseline where we normalize something being expensive when it shouldn\u2019t [be], and it\u2019s very scary to see,\u201d said Helina Seyoum, 29, who has reverted to making coffee at home. \u201cNow a morning coffee becomes a burden, because you\u2019re obsessing over the costs.\u201d<\/p>\n

A daily cafe trip was how Aley Longo, 28, made sure she escaped the confines of her studio apartment and spoke to people outside work in an \u201caffordable\u201d way. Now it\u2019s strictly a weekend activity.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s tariffs are \u201cbad for Americans, and our quality of life\u201d, Longo said, \u201cand we are suffering, whether it\u2019s as tiny as just being able to buy coffee out, or something so much bigger\u201d<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Those behind the counter know what it\u2019s like to watch the price of a regular purchase grow. Allon Azulai, who owns Kos Kaffe in Brooklyn, which imports beans from countries including Colombia, Honduras and Kenya, described nervously asking vendors for their latest prices each week, as tariffs and mounting demand looms large.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now the industry is so unstable and what worries me if tariffs continue is cafes that do not have big pockets will not be able to survive,\u201d said Azulai.<\/p>\n

\u2018Straight to the American consumer\u2019<\/p>\n

As US cafes come under pressure, the coffee producers they source from are also preparing for disruption.<\/p>\n

Brazil is the world\u2019s largest coffee producer and exporter. The US is the leading destination of its coffee: about a third of its coffee imports are Brazilian.<\/p>\n

The Brazilian Soluble Coffee<\/a> Industry Association, which represents producers, said the 50% US tariff on the country\u2019s exports amounted to a \u201cclear competitive disadvantage\u201d as other leading countries for coffee production face lower rates, ranging from 10% to 27%.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis decision not only harms the Brazilian industry but could also negatively affect American consumers, who benefit from the quality and competitive price of our coffee,\u201d the association said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Brazilian producers and exporters still hope they can lobby for coffee to be exempt from US tariffs, arguing the US produces very little coffee domestically. The US commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, had previously suggested products not cultivated on American soil could be granted zero tariffs, they note.<\/p>\n

If that fails Brazil\u2019s Coffee Exporters Council says it will at least seek to reduce the tariff on coffee to 10%, in line with other Brazilian goods, including oil, orange juice and aircraft. \u201cWe remain optimistic and hopeful,\u201d the council said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

New coffee export deals with the US are on hold<\/a> and shipments ready to go are stuck in storage, adding costs for exporters. China has meanwhile approved 183 new Brazilian firms<\/a> to export coffee, although the exporters\u2019 council cautioned that sales may take time to materialize.<\/p>\n

In Vietnam<\/a> and Colombia \u2013 the world\u2019s second and third largest coffee-producing nations, respectively \u2013 exporters hope that lower US tariffs on their coffee will help them steal a march on Brazil.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe US can\u2019t grow coffee at scale, so tariffs won\u2019t bring production back home,\u201d Timen Swijtink, founder of Lac\u00e0ph Coffees in Vietnam, said. \u201cWith the tiny margins in our industry, any tariff cost goes straight to the American consumer.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Even with 20% US tariffs on Vietnam, the country\u2019s farmers \u201care resilient and will find new markets\u201d, added Swijtink, \u201cwith global demand strong and China\u2019s demand growing like a rocket ship\u201d.<\/p>\n

With the US tariff on Colombia only at the baseline 10%, small coffee growers across the country are shrugging off any immediate impacts. \u201cThe average coffee farmer won\u2019t feel it, at least for now,\u201d said Jos\u00e9 David Posada, a fourth-generation coffee farmer and owner of Capilla del Rosario, a finca in Medell\u00edn. \u201cIt\u2019s the exporters who will be impacted.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is also a sense among some that, given Brazil\u2019s tariffs are at 50%, Trump\u2019s tariff war could even help Colombian business. The country\u2019s coffee cultivation is vital to the national economy, representing 8% of total Colombian exports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Posada said: \u201cThe fact that Brazil has a higher tariff, obviously that\u2019s going to have a positive impact on us, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

Guilherme Morya, a coffee analyst at Rabobank, said the 50% tariff on Brazilian coffee may, at least in the short term, shift American buyers toward other sources. \u201cColombia gains a price advantage, and being the second-largest supplier, it becomes the most obvious candidate to fill this gap,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But Alejandro Lloreda, a farmer at family-run Cafetal de la Trinidad, which produces specialty coffee, cautioned the difference would only give Colombia \u201ca temporary advantage\u201d. \u201cA coffee tree can take two to three years to produce, and the tariff situation could well change before then,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Back in New York, cafe owners find themselves in an equally uncertain position.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe tariffs are to small businesses\u2019 detriment,\u201d said Poliafito, of Ciao Gloria. \u201cBig businesses can find a way around it. But we will suffer the costs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s scary to not know if we can continue our business,\u201d added Nick Kim, manager of Kor\u00e9 Coffee in Manhattan. \u201cIt\u2019s really a shame, and sad, that you know bad things are coming, but you cannot do anything to change it. We have no option but to see what will come.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Trump administration has targeted Brazil with steep US tariffs of 50%. Coffee shops in the heart of…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":150175,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[64,79,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-150174","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115037810465227308","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}