Arkansas Lt. Governor Leslie Rutledge discusses President Donald Trump’s trade war with China on ‘Mornings with Maria.’
FIRST ON FOX: Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Don Bacon, R-Neb., are urging President Donald Trump to exempt coffee from reciprocal tariff measures that are “drastically increasing its price.”
Coffee prices were up 20.9% from a year ago in August, according to the most recent edition of the consumer price index (CPI) released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In a letter to Trump on Wednesday, Khanna and Bacon asked Trump to remove coffee from his reciprocal tariffs in order to bring prices down for the two out of three Americans who drink coffee every day, according to the National Coffee Association.
“We respectfully request your administration exempt coffee from reciprocal tariff measures that are drastically increasing its price,” Khanna and Bacon said, according to the letter obtained by Fox News Digital. “The administration can do this by adding coffee (both green beans, as well as roasted and ground products) to Annex II of Executive Order 14257. Given that our nation consumes around 400 million cups per day, this action is one modest but meaningful way to help the American people.”
Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs included a list of exempt goods, but coffee isn’t on the list. As Trump’s universal reciprocal tariffs seek to level the playing field for international trade, the congressmen said that coffee does not have “a viable large-scale domestic alternative.”
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President Donald Trump signs executive orders imposing 25% tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, in his ongoing effort to overhaul the U.S. trading relationship with the rest of the world. (iStock; Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via / Getty Images)
“Though Hawaii and Puerto Rico grow small quantities of specialty coffee, domestic production accounts for less than 1 percent of all the coffee consumed by Americans. Tariffs on coffee do not protect domestic businesses and interests—they only raise costs and amount to an additional tax on American consumers. It is not practical to tariff a product that our nation does not meaningfully produce,” the bipartisan congressmen said in their letter to Trump.
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99% of coffee is imported from outside the U.S., according to the National Coffee Association.
“I’m always with a coffee mug, so it’s a personal issue for me, and we’re hoping that the president recognizes this as part of his exemption,” Khanna told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview.
Khanna, who represents California’s Silicon Valley in the U.S. House of Representatives, said his constituents tell him they are concerned about tariffs impacting the economy.
Donald Trump leaves after speaking at a campaign rally at the Trump National Doral Golf Club on July 9, 2024, in Florida. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images)
“I’ve heard from a lot of small business owners, coffee shops actually, and a lot of them are facing real pressures. Some may go out of business if this coffee tariff remains,” Khanna said, while also explaining that hospitality workers are experiencing increased costs and consumers are seeing prices go up.
Khanna said he hopes the letter sparks a “broader conversation about repealing the tariffs on food products, and particularly food products that we basically don’t grow in the United States.”
More than half of Americans drink coffee every day, including Khanna’s Republican colleague, Bacon, who is retiring from representing Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives next year.
Khanna and Bacon traveled to Mexico earlier this year for a meeting with President Claudia Sheinbaum, which was aimed at developing a more “constructive approach” to Trump’s tariffs.
The bipartisan duo also teamed up last month to introduce the “No Coffee Tax Act,” seeking to repeal the Trump administration’s tariffs on coffee.
“There is no American alternative to coffee,” Bacon told Fox News Digital. “Why tariff something we can’t grow? All you are doing is punishing Americans.”
President Donald Trump speaks during a “Make America Wealthy Again” trade announcement event at the White House on April 2, 2025. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)
Bacon, one of few House Republicans who has been willing to push back against the Trump administration’s second term, introduced legislation to return tariff control to Congress earlier this year.
“I’ve always been honest. I try to be tactful, but I have always pushed back where I thought there was a big concern,” Bacon said. “I want to do what’s right, despite what anybody thinks.”
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The retiring congressman said his constituents are feeling the impact of Trump’s tariffs on the economy, particularly soybean farmers who have been unable to sell their goods.
“I feel a little freer to do it since I announced, but I don’t know that I would have done it any differently,” Bacon said, explaining that pushing back on Trump’s tariffs is one of his top priorities as he closes out his final term.
The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
