☕ Canada imported $2.3-billion of coffee in 2023. The U.S. is easily the largest source – and now we're hitting them with retaliatory tariffs on the product. Time to cozy up with Colombia.
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For a number of years, I've been buying my coffee beans at a small local roaster in Toronto. (It also ships to consumers: www.everydaycoffee.com.) I don't know where it sources its raw beans, but if it's shipped through the U.S. I hope it'll change its source.
feb 2, 2025, 10:49 pm • 1 0 • view
The tariffs are imposed on goods originating in the US as per CUSMA definitions. For vegetable products this means the country of harvesting. Coffee not grown in the US is not subject to tariffs, even if packaged or shipped through there. Tariff rules: www.canada.ca/en/departmen...
feb 2, 2025, 11:24 pm • 3 1 • view
The only coffee that would be subject to Canada's retaliatory tariffs is that grown in Hawaii or Puerto Rico. Not sure why we would want to punish anyone in either place, but here we are. CUSMA rules for determining country of origin: laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulati...
feb 2, 2025, 11:24 pm • 1 0 • view
One caveat is that, for coffee roasted in the US, Canada may make the determination that "the single material that imparts the essential character of the goods is a fungible material and has been commingled", which then allows it to treat it as a US good.
feb 2, 2025, 11:28 pm • 2 0 • view
This would require to treat beans as a "fungible" material, and to equate roasting to "commingling". I don't think that is possible, but I am a coffee snob, not a Finance bureaucrat.
feb 2, 2025, 11:31 pm • 4 0 • view
This is all very interesting. Thanks for taking the time to reply. Seems like this all hinges on the interpretation of processed/roasted in the States.
feb 3, 2025, 12:20 am • 3 0 • view