Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., will introduce a bill Wednesday, shared first with Semafor, that would block President Donald Trump’s administration from placing additional tariffs on coffee imports from any country it has normal trade relations with.
The Senate voted to pass a resolution on Tuesday that would lift tariffs on Brazil, which ships more coffee to the US than any other country. Prices have risen some 20% over the last year — enough to snag the attention of Trump, who told reporters Monday that he “want[s] to get coffee down a little bit.”
“This coffee tax doesn’t help American business in any serious way, but it does raise costs at the grocery store for hardworking families across the United States,” Cortez Masto said in a statement.
Said Paul: “The United States doesn’t grow coffee and taxing it won’t create a single American job.”
Reps. Don Bacon, R-Neb., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., have introduced similar legislation in the House. Cortez Masto and Paul are weighing all options to get the bill considered on the Senate floor.