No Coffee Tax Act could cut cost of a cup as Senate aims to curtail Trump tariffs

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00:00If you're a coffee drinker, you've probably noticed the price has gone up a lot over the last year.

00:04The price per pound has increased from about $6.47 in September 2024 to about $9.14 in September 2025.

00:13That's a 41% increase.

00:15So Senators Catherine Cortez Masto, a Democrat, and Rand Paul, a Republican,

00:20introduced a bill called the No Coffee Tax Act that would end all tariffs on coffee imports.

00:25It's one of multiple steps the Senate is taking to try to rein in tariffs President Trump has imposed this year

00:31on goods imported from pretty much the entire world.

00:35More than 99% of coffee sold in the United States is imported.

00:3935% of it is from Brazil and another 27% from Colombia.

00:44The tariffs on imports from those countries are 50% and 10% respectively.

00:48We do not grow coffee here in the number of the abundance that we need here for Americans,

00:54for the consumption that we have.

00:56So this is one that's just common sense.

00:58We have never put tariffs on it before.

01:00And why are we doing it now?

01:02The bill reverts all tariffs on coffee back to what they were the day before President Trump took office,

01:07which is zero.

01:08Talking to those small businesses, those coffee niche businesses, they're going to go under.

01:14They can't afford, they have a small profit margin, they can't afford more of these costs.

01:17So now we're going to put these small businesses out of business.

01:20The jobs are not going to be there.

01:21Economy is not going to expand in Nevada.

01:23That's not what we want.

01:25So we've got to be smart.

01:26The No Coffee Tax Act was introduced Wednesday,

01:28the day after the Senate voted to end Trump's tariffs on goods imported from Brazil.

01:33The vote was bipartisan, with five Republicans joining Democrats to get it over the line.

01:37It's unlikely to have any effect, however.

01:39It's really a messaging exercise.

01:42I don't expect the House to pass it out.

01:43And it's one of the reasons why I voted on the Brazil measure.

01:48That one's an outlier.

01:49I can almost see why the president is using some of the authorities for taking on nations

01:57where we have a trade deficit, but not a nation with a trade surplus.

02:01In 2024, the United States ran a trade surplus with Brazil of $6.8 billion on goods

02:07and $23.1 billion on services.

02:10Trump imposed the 50% tariff on the country in July after the country's Supreme Court

02:15took action against its former president, Jair Bolsonaro, a Trump ally,

02:19and also sanctioned U.S. social media companies, restricting their access to the Brazilian market.

02:25You just don't impose a 50% tariff on a country because you disagree with a judicial outcome,

02:30respectfully to the president.

02:31Let's go after the bad actors, not nations with a trade surplus.

02:34Republican Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky also voted to end tariffs on Brazil

02:39and called Trump's policy an indiscriminate trade war against both close allies and strategic adversaries.

02:46The Senate is also voting this week to end tariffs on Canadian products

02:49and other global tariffs President Trump implemented by declaring a national emergency.

02:56Although, just like the resolution regarding tariffs in Brazil, they're not likely to take effect.

03:01I'm Ray Bogan for Straight Hour News.

03:03For more unbiased reporting straight from our nation's capital, download the SAN app.

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