{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.reed.senate.gov/news/releases/reed-bill-would-dump-trumps-coffee-tariffs-and-help-lower-prices", "Reed Bill Would Dump Trump\u2019s Coffee Tariffs & Help Lower Prices", "2025-11-14", "2025", "2025-11", "Democrat", "Senate", "RI", "Jack Reed", "R000122", "www.reed.senate.gov", "jackreed", "https://www.reed.senate.gov/news/releases", "scraper", "PROVIDENCE, RI -- Donald Trump\u2019s reckless tariffs are brewing up economic volatility, uncertainty, and higher prices for American businesses and consumers alike -- making a cup of coffee more expensive than ever. And with Americans drinking about 400 million cups of coffee per day, according to the National Coffee Association, Trump\u2019s tariff price hikes really add up.\n\n\u201cPresident Trump\u2019s reckless tariffs have driven up the cost of coffee \u2013 jolting prices by more than 40 percent over a year ago. For coffee shop owners, roasters, and customers alike, Trump\u2019s coffee price hikes have been a bitter brew to swallow,\u201d said U.S. Senator Jack Reed.\n\nToday, Senator Reed visited Mills Coffee Roasting Company to discuss his latest efforts to help lower coffee prices.\n\nDating to 1860, Mills Coffee is one of the oldest family-owned roasters in the country.\n\nSenator Reed is backing the No Coffee Tax Act (S.3072). This legislation would repeal Trump\u2019s tariffs on coffee imports from Brazil, Vietnam, India, Mexico, Indonesia, and every foreign country and prevent him from putting new tariffs on coffee in the future. If the bill becomes law, tariff rates on coffee would return to what they were on January 19, the day before President Donald Trump\u2019s inauguration \u2013 which was 0 percent.\n\nPresident Trump imposed 50 percent tariffs on Brazil, a country from which American imports around one-third of its coffee, after the country refused to drop criminal charges against far-right former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who has been convicted of attempting to overthrow Brazil\u2019s government. The next two biggest coffee exporters to the U.S., Vietnam and Colombia, have been hit with 20 percent and 10 percent tariffs, respectively.\n\nNow, the average U.S. price of a pound of ground coffee is $9.14 as of September, the latest data government data currently available -- 41 percent higher than the year before, according to U.S. government data.\n\nCoffee production is not an industry the U.S. can reasonably onshore and the U.S. is the largest importer of coffee in the world. Ninety-nine percent of all coffee consumed in the United States is imported, according to the National Coffee Association, because there are very few places in the U.S. with the climate necessary to grow coffee.\n\n\u201cThe U.S. can\u2019t grow our own coffee to meet demand, so President Trump\u2019s reckless coffee tariffs won\u2019t create a single American job or suddenly bring coffee production to the U.S. Instead, President Trump is misusing so-called emergency declarations as an excuse to unfairly tax coffee drinkers and he\u2019s making it harder for small businesses that roast and sell coffee to budget and plan for the future,\u201d said Reed.\n\n\u201cMills Coffee dates back to 1860, and it has been passed down from generation to generation in my family. We work directly with our growers and take a very hands-on approach to our supply chain because we value quality, community, sustainability, and stability in all that we do,\u201d said Susan Mills, who is the fourth-generation owner and operator of Mills Coffee Roasting Company. \u201cOur customers want stability, but chaotic tariffs have been making it more and more difficult to budget, plan ahead, and give our customers the stability they need. There is no way to plan for rapidly changing tariffs on the inputs we need to run our business. And as a family-owned small business, we are being forced to either take on significant cost increases on our own or pass them down to our customers. Tariffs don\u2019t belong on agricultural products that we cannot grow sufficiently in the United States. I am very grateful for Senator Reed\u2019s leadership on the No Coffee Tax Act and I hope that the tariffs on coffee will swiftly be eliminated.\u201d\n\nNCA\u2019s latest economic report shows that the total economic impact of the coffee industry in the United States in 2022 was $343.2 billion. It found that the coffee industry is responsible for more than 2.2 million U.S. jobs and generates more than $100 billion in wages per year.\n\nWhile the coffee industry faces several challenges that impact prices \u2013 including extreme weather stemming from climate change as well as supply issues \u2013 Senator Reed notes that President Trump\u2019s tariff are particularly avoidable, unwarranted, and reversible. Last month, Senator Reed helped pass three resolutions to end blanket tariffs on countries that President Trump installed via executive order.\n\nThe U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments earlier this month for a case that will decide the fate of many of Trump\u2019s tariffs, with most Supreme Court justices expressing skepticism that the duties were legal.\n\nReed says there isn\u2019t time to wait and there is bipartisan momentum for the No Coffee Tax Act, which is led by Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) and Rand Paul (R-KY).\n\nThis week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent finally acknowledged that tariffs do increase prices on American consumers and hinted that the Trump Administration may start reversing some of its price-hiking policies. However, the Trump Administration\u2019s initial plan only eliminates a tiny fraction of the President\u2019s tariffs and offers no real help lowering prices.\n\nSenator Reed stated: \u201cThe Trump Administration seems to be finally waking up to the financial damage its policies are causing. But so far, the so-called deals they have announced aren't finalized, don\u2019t provide real relief, and only apply to 7 percent of the coffee that the U.S. imports. So, as I learned from my coffee tour today: we need to keep \u2018grinding away\u2019 and \u2018keep the heat on\u2019 to ensure the Trump Administration follows through and actually lowers prices -- not just with respect to coffee, but on everyday staples, including health care, housing, energy, and other big-ticket essentials.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.reed.senate.gov/news/releases/reed-bill-would-dump-trumps-coffee-tariffs-and-help-lower-prices"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8096778765320778, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}