Laotian Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone has said exports could be diverted if sales to the US plummet
Laos could reroute its coffee sales from the US to Russia due to the heavy tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump, Laotian Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone has told RIA Novosti.
Trump imposed 40% levies on goods from Laos last month as part of a broader flurry of country-specific tariffs aimed at addressing what he called unfair trade imbalances.
“Among the goods that Laos supplies to the US, but can also supply to other countries, are agricultural products such as coffee,” Siphandone told the news agency on Saturday on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum in Russia’s Vladivostok.
“Laos also supplies coffee to Russia, and now the volume of these supplies can increase,” he added.
If US tariffs make our products too expensive and they will not buy them there, then we will increase the volume of supplies to Russia.
The US tariffs have also hit top coffee exporters Brazil and Vietnam, with levies reaching 50% and 20%, respectively. Brazil, the world’s largest producer, accounts for 37% of global output, while Vietnam contributes 17%.
Coffee prices have spiked sharply in recent months due to harvests being damaged by poor weather, as well as market disruption caused by the new US tariffs, according to the International Coffee Organization.
Americans drink coffee more than any other beverage, with two out of three consuming it daily, according to the US National Coffee Association. The group lobbied for an exemption for coffee ahead of the Trump tariffs but so far to no avail.
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