The tariff rate on all good imported into the United States from Brazil, including coffee, remains at 50%. Last year, America brought in $1.9 billion worth from their largest trading partner, roughly one third of all coffee imported in 2024. That same year the US purchased $1.5 billion from Colombia, their second largest coffee trading partner. Together they account for around 60% of all coffee entering America. (This doesn’t include what comes in via Switzerland, a non-producing country who is America’s third leading partner.)
The current tariff rate on Colombian goods sits at 10%. But that may change as the president has made threats to increase tariffs on Colombia over an “[escalating] feud that stems from the U.S. military’s strikes on vessels allegedly transporting drugs in the region.”
As reported by Reuters, over the weekend the president stated that he would increase tariffs as well as halt all payments to Colombia, though they note that what those payments entail is unclear since the shuttering of USAID, the government humanitarian assistance program through which Colombia received financial assistance.
The shipping vessel destroyed in the Caribbean at the center of the feud is alleged to have been part of a leftist rebel group known as the National Liberation Army and were smuggling narcotics; Reuters notes the White House has offered no evidence to substantiate the claim. Colombian President Gustavo Petro stated that the boat belonged to a “humble family” and was not associated with the leftist group.
Meanwhile the relationship between the two countries has grown less diplomatic, with the president calling Petro an “illegal drug leader.” And last month, Petro’s visa was revoked by the US government for attending a pro-Palestine demonstration in New York where he “urged U.S. soldiers to disobey Trump’s orders.”
Thus the tensions may boil over into new tariffs on Colombian goods. Though the exact amount or if coffee would be exempt (though it has yet to be exempt from any other tariffs) has yet to be confirmed, but it cannot be understated how deleterious increased tariffs on the second-leading exporter would be, especially when the coffee industry is already scrambling from the tariffs on the first, Brazil.
If, for instance, the rate goes up to 50% as it currently sits with Brazil—which many believe to be for non-economic reasons like the latest Colombian threat—that would mean that America would have to scramble to account for over half of the coffee they imported last year. And there simply may not be enough coffee produced elsewhere to account for it.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
