BOSTON — Local businesses, their customers, and economic experts are forecasting a price spike for your daily cup of coffee.
Thursday, President Donald Trump’s long-promised tariffs went into effect for dozens of countries, including a hefty toll on the largest exporter of coffee beans in the world.
Most of Brazil’s exports into the United States will face a 50% tariff, including coffee beans.
Solid Ground Cafe, located off Huntington Avenue, collaborates with a supplier that primarily sources coffee beans from Brazil and Colombia.
“We’re all feeling the hits from tariffs,” said Keith Patrick, co-owner of the coffee shop. “Unfortunately, we probably just won’t serve Brazilian coffee.”
He told Boston 25 on Thursday that their provider, Speedwell, is now looking at other countries to source their coffee beans. Otherwise, they’ll have to tackle the tariff burden.
Patrick, talking about future prices, added, “We have to find a way to meet [customers] in the middle.”
Professor of economics at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Victor Matheson, has been monitoring the tariff developments worldwide since Trump took office.
“It’s not looking like a good three months, six months, year for those folks,” he said about the US coffee industry. "
President Trump claims the tariff burden won’t fall on customers with higher coffee prices.
Matheson, though, says that’s not true.
He explained, “We have a world where coffee bean prices are set in the world market. A tariff on those bean prices will directly affect the amount that people pay for coffee in the United States.”
Meanwhile, Patrick says the effects across the coffee industry and at his shop are yet to be seen.
He finished, “The prices that we have are as affordable as we can be.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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