Tariff relief, finally? The Trump administration announces that coffee (may be?) exempt from tariffs. Plus, a lawsuit against Black Rifle Coffee alleges its USA-first branding is misleading to customers, and unionized Starbucks workers go on strike.
‘Trump Lowers Tariffs on Coffee, Beef and Fruits, As Americans’ Concerns About Affordability Grow’ – via CNN
After months of pressure from industry bodies and lawmakers, the Trump administration announced that it would amend its stance on tariffs on certain products, including coffee.
President Trump issued an executive order on Friday that would exempt certain commodities “that are not grown or produced in sufficient quantities in the United States” from reciprocal tariffs.
However, as Elisabeth Buchwald reports for CNN, this does not remove all tariffs from coffee.
This story can be tricky to follow because multiple bills and executive orders are being issued simultaneously. For example, on Thursday, the administration announced that coffee and bananas from four Latin American countries—Argentina, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Ecuador—would be exempt from tariffs. The exemptions are part of trade deals with the countries, which Axios notes account for about 7% of U.S. coffee imports.
The Trump administration has been suggesting a possible tariff exemption for coffee for months. In August, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC that President Trump “has agreed to set zero tariffs for those natural resources that are not grown in the U.S. in the trade deals he has closed.” In September, the White House issued a new executive order exempting certain products from tariffs if exporting countries agree to new trade deals.
Last week, Trump once again hinted at a tariff exemption for coffee during an interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham on Nov. 11. “Coffee, we’re going to lower some tariffs,” Trump said. “We’re going to have some coffee come in. We’re going to take care of all this stuff very quickly, very easily.”
Throughout all this uncertainty, the coffee C price has been all over the place, reaching record highs over the last few months. It fell after Trump’s comments last week, and again after the exemptions announcement on Friday.
Much of the reporting around the tariff news focused on Trump’s wish to lower food prices (despite his tariffs being a major reason for the rise). However, as Allison Morrow reported for CNN, coffee shops are unlikely to lower costs or change menu prices any time soon. “It’s a principle that applies to most businesses, that once you take price increases, you tend not to give them back,” Cornell professor Alex Susskind told Morrow.
Customers may see some relief when it comes to retail bags. Grocery store coffee prices rose 21% in August compared to the same month last year. Morrow writes that prices may go down “among mass-market coffee producers whose customers are more sensitive to price movements.”
Read the latest tariff twists and turns here.
‘Luckin Coffee Eyes U.S. Relisting As Five-Year Turnaround From Fraud Scandal Takes Hold’ – via CNBC
In 2019, Luckin Coffee revealed plans to go public with an initial valuation of $3 billion. The company was only 18 months old, having expanded rapidly in China with a business model based on tech-heavy, small-footprint stores. As Kathleen Smith of Renaissance Capital told CNBC at the time, “Not since the dotcom bubble of 1999–00 has a company achieved a $3 billion public valuation less than two years after its launch.”
Less than a year later, the company was in turmoil after allegations that high-level executives had fabricated $310 million in sales. Luckin’s stock price plummeted by almost 75%, and the brand eventually delisted from the Nasdaq and filed for bankruptcy in 2021.
Just a few short years later, Luckin is once again considering a U.S. IPO. The brand restructured after the 2021 filing, emerged from bankruptcy, and continued its turbocharged growth. It overtook Starbucks to become China’s largest coffee chain in 2023 and expanded stateside earlier this year.
As Anniek Bao reports for CNBC, Luckin’s CEO, Jinyi Guo, teased the possibility of relisting during a speech earlier this month. However, the company denied that any move was imminent.
Much of the financial backing for Luckin’s revival has come from the private equity firm Centurium Capital. Centurium, Bao writes, “doubled down on its investment following the 2020 scandal to help Luckin cover mounting legal fees and fines, and installed its own team to revamp the business.”
Centurium now holds a controlling stake in the company. According to Bloomberg, the private equity firm is also interested in bidding for the U.K. chain Costa Coffee, which is being sold at a significantly reduced price than what it was purchased for by Coca-Cola.
Read more on Luckin’s resurgence here.
‘Black Rifle Coffee Facing Class Action Over USA-Forward Branding’ – via Daily Coffee News
Black Rifle Coffee really leans into patriotic, all-American vibes for its brand. However, a new class-action lawsuit alleges that this America-forward approach misleads customers into believing the coffee is grown in the United States.
The complaint, filed on Nov. 3 in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, alleges that Black Rifle’s bags, which feature an American flag and the words “America’s Coffee” on the front, count as “unqualified ‘Made in USA’ advertisements.” Such statements, the suit continues, “cause the reasonable consumer to believe that Defendants sell coffee that is sourced and produced in the United States.”
As the folks fighting against coffee tariffs know, the U.S. grows very little coffee. The suit alleges that the company’s America-forward branding contravenes California’s “Made in USA” statute, which prohibits use of the term for products that are “substantially made, manufactured, or produced outside of the United States.”
Daily Coffee News reports that in April, a jury awarded $2.36 million to the plaintiffs in a case against Bigelow Tea. The suit found that the company misled customers by labeling its products “Manufactured in the USA 100%,” despite sourcing coffee from abroad.
Read the full story on the Made in the USA coffee lawsuit here.
More News
‘Colombia Launches ‘Umbral,’ a Heat-resistant Coffee Variety’ – via Colombia One
‘Coffee Prices Moving “Sideways” – ICO October Report’ – via Global Coffee Report
‘Keurig Pod Recyclability Class Action in Canada Heads Toward Settlement’ – via Daily Coffee News
‘Costa Coffee Attracts Takeover Interest From Backer of China’s Luckin’ – via Bloomberg
‘Registration Opens for 2026 NCA Convention in Tampa’ – via Daily Coffee News
The Week in Coffee Unionizing
Last week, unionized Starbucks workers across the country went on strike during Red Cup Day, the company’s busiest day of the year.
Over 1,000 baristas walked out of 65 stores in 40 cities. Starbucks Workers United (SBWU) said the strike was open-ended and that more stores could participate unless the company agrees to a union contract.
“We’re prepared to do whatever it takes,” Jasmine Leli, a barista and union delegate in Buffalo, New York, told Bloomberg. “Starbucks not finalizing this union contract is failing its baristas and customers alike.”
Negotiations between Starbucks and SBWU over the contract stalled in April, as delegates overwhelmingly voted to reject the coffee giant’s proposal during bargaining, particularly regarding pay increases. The union said Starbucks’ proposal of at least a 2% annual pay rise was “insufficient,” and has been threatening strike action ever since.
Starbucks says that the union left negotiations and took an incomplete framework to its members for a vote. “We are disappointed that Workers United, who only represents around 4% of our partners, has voted to authorize a strike instead of returning to the bargaining table,” spokesperson Jaci Anderson said in a statement. “When they’re ready to come back, we’re ready to talk.”
Is Coffee Good For You?
We’ve covered coffee’s impact on atrial fibrillation (AFib), a fluttering or irregular heartbeat. AFib affects some 59 million people worldwide and more than 10 million Americans. Studies have found various associations, both good and bad, between coffee consumption and the cardiac disorder.
The latest research, presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2025 and published in the journal JAMA, showed a positive association between caffeine consumption and AFib outcomes.
Over the course of six months, 200 patients who were regular coffee drinkers and suffered from AFib were randomly selected to either have a cup of coffee each day or to cut caffeine out completely. The coffee drinkers were 39% less likely to have a recurrence of AFib than the caffeine abstainers.
“Our study results suggest that caffeinated coffee may not be responsible for raising the risk of AFib and may even reduce it,” said study co-author Gregory M. Marcus, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.
“It is reasonable for health care professionals to let their AFib patients consider experimenting with naturally caffeinated substances that they may enjoy, such as caffeinated tea and coffee. However, some people may still find that caffeine or caffeinated coffee triggers or worsens their AFib.”
Beyond the Headlines
‘America’s Baristas Are Brewing Up a Labor Movement’ by Bryce Covert
