Besides dealing with a third consecutive year of a global cacao shortage (due to supply issues driven by weather, disease and a historical lack of investment) that has driven up prices to 3X the price from two years ago, what is the impact of tariffs on America’s artisan chocolate businesses when huge duties raise the cost of cacao, an ingredient that only grows some 20 degrees above and below the equator?
Cacao CANNOT be sourced from the United States in the quantities needed. There are ~4.5 million MT of cacao produced globally, and only about 100 tons of production in Hawaii and Puerto Rico combined - a tiny, tiny fraction of global production. There is no domestic production that is being protected by the tariffs. Refusing to exempt raw materials that cannot be grown in the US makes absolutely no sense for the chocolate industry.