TAMPA, Fla. — The United States of America can make many products, but there are two items we can't grow to scale domestically: coffee and tea.
ABC Action News reporter Michael Paluska sat down with the owners of Blind Tiger Coffee Roasters and TeBella Tea Company. Both businesses rely on imports from countries across the globe to operate, and both owners tell Paluska there is no way they can absorb the cost of President Donald Trump's tariffs without raising prices.
"We import from about 14 different countries right now, and every single one of them is on the tariff list," Abigail StClair, owner of TeBella Tea Company, told Paluska. "China, Japan, Sri Lanka. Those are the three biggest, and they're three with the largest tariffs as well."
WATCH Coffee and tea prices set to skyrocket following Trump tariff turmoil
StClair said the United States can't produce enough to stock her shelves.
"There's a handful of gardens, and if we bought every ounce they grew in one year, it would probably sustain my business for three to five months. Our Chinese teas are going to be hit with some of the toughest tariffs."
The same is true for coffee.
"Can we grow coffee in America?" Paluska asked Roberto Torres, owner of Blind Tiger Coffee Roasters.
"No. I mean, we could try. But outside of the territories of Puerto Rico and Hawaii, there isn't any coffee grown in the United States because the plant can survive only by altitude and has to have a tropical climate," Torres said.
"Do you think there should be some commodities that the Trump administration looks at and says, 'America does not produce this? So we will exempt these commodities from a tariff so that it does not impact small businesses?'" Paluska asked.
"Typically, that has been the case. If there is something we cannot grow or the industry is not here, it gets exempt. I believe that the only way we can shed light on this and tell who is the first to get affected is us. It's going to be the consumers. It's not necessarily just coffee. It's every single thing that we import from another country that gets affected," Torres said.
While President Trump paused some new tariffs for 90 days, Trump raised tariffs on China to 125% after China said on Wednesday that it would increase its reciprocal tariffs on U.S. goods to 84% from the previous 34%, per a statement from the country's Finance Ministry.
The ministry's statement said escalating U.S. tariffs was a "mistake," adding: "China urges the U.S. to immediately correct its wrong practices, cancel all unilateral tariff measures against China and properly resolve differences with China through equal dialogue on the basis of mutual respect."
"Many countries have—they've ripped us off left and right. But now it's our turn to do the ripping," he said
Trump claimed that countries have been calling him wanting to make a deal in the lead-up to the sweeping tariffs.
"I'm telling you, these countries are calling us up, kissing my a**. They are—They are dying to make a deal," he said.
Family-owned and operated businesses in Tampa Bay are now caught in the middle of an international trade war. Their goal now is to let customers know their hands are tied.
"I think our biggest concern is that a lot of people might not understand why prices will go up and that they're hurting and that they're looking for somebody to blame," Torres told Paluska. "I think for us, we want to be really good stewards of, you know, our craft coffee. It's a ritual more than it is a drink or a ceremony. I think we definitely want to try to understand how we can ease the pain and work together so that collectively, we can raise this concern and see some relief."
