Tariffs imposed on the importation of unroasted coffee create an undue financial burden for the U.S. coffee industry, especially small businesses.  The U.S. domestic production capacity of coffee can only meet 0.001% of U.S. demand and there are no viable alternatives for the raw materials necessary to sustain current demand levels.  The U.S. coffee industry, composed of coffee roasters, coffee shops, and aligned product businesses, contributes $343 billion dollars to the U.S. economy annually and supports 2.2 million jobs.  The prices for unroasted (green) coffee are already at record highs due to global low crop yields, rising global costs of inputs (fertilizers, etc), and increases in shipping and logistics costs.  Compounding these surging prices with unavoidable tariffs will add a significant increase to the amount that Americans spend on their daily cup of coffee, creating an inflationary impact that will be felt dramatically by the 66% of Americans who consume coffee every day.

As participants in the U.S. coffee industry, we propose that Congress pass legislation that would exempt from tariffs imposed by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol all imports of coffee products identified under HTS subheadings 0901.11.00, 0901.12.00, 0901.21.00, 0901.22.00, and 0901.90.10; which include raw unroasted coffee (caffeinated and decaffeinated) and coffee skin/husks.  We ask that these products be designated as critical raw materials for which there is no available U.S. supply chain replacement.  These products are critical to U.S. economic growth and the quality of life for Americans of every socio-economic demographic.  As a raw good which is critical to U.S. economic growth and prosperity, we ask that this legislation be brought with all due haste to the Congress of the United States for consideration.