The President of the United States, Donald Trump, stated that he intends to reduce part of the import tariffs on coffee, a measure that could benefit Brazil, the main supplier of the grain to the American market. The statement was published in an interview with the broadcaster Fox News published on Tuesday night (11).
“We’re going to lower some tariffs on coffee, and we’re going to have some coffee coming in [nos EUA]”, said Trump. The Republican did not say the size of the reduction or which countries would be covered. Since August, Brazilian products such as coffee, meat and steel have faced surcharges of up to 50%, imposed for political reasons.
Trump stated that he intends to apply “surgical” changes to tariffs and indicated that the reduction could follow the model of exceptions for products that are not produced on a sufficient scale in the US, a category in which coffee was included in September.
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The tariff put pressure on prices in the USA, where coffee rose around 19% in one year. In New York coffee shops, consumer increases reach 55%, and the country faces a 53% drop in Brazilian coffee imports since September, according to the Brazilian Coffee Exporters Council (Cecafé).
In 2024, Brazil exported US$1.96 billion in coffee to the USA, which accounts for a third of global consumption. From 2025 to September, the country shipped 4.36 million bags to Americans, a drop of 24.7% over the same period of the previous year. The product represents 5.3% of Brazilian exports to the USA this year, according to the Ministry of Development, Industry, Commerce and Services (Mdic).
Trump’s speech comes amid negotiations opened after the meeting with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in October, in Malaysia. At the time, Lula called for the total suspension of tariffs, but the Brazilian government admits accepting reductions per product if full exemption is not possible. Vice-president Geraldo Alckmin had already classified coffee as a priority in the negotiations.
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Itamaraty interlocutors hope that the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mauro Vieira, will meet this week with the American Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, during the G7 ministerial meeting in Canada, to discuss the next steps.
