March 17, 2026

Warren Seeks Answers from Coffee Companies on the Impact of Trump’s Policies on Prices, Continuing Affordability Push

“Coffee prices are expected to continue to climb in 2026, despite the Administration’s rollbacks.”

“The coffee being sold in American coffee shops and grocery stores today were purchased, imported, and processed under the tariff regime that was in place for months prior to the exemptions.”

Letter to Keurig (PDF) | Letter to Smuckers (PDF)

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, sent letters to Tim Cofer, the CEO of Keurig Dr Pepper, and Mark Smucker, the CEO of J.M. Smucker Co. (the manufacturer of Folgers, Dunkin’, and Cafe Bustelo), seeking information on how President Trump’s chaotic tariffs have driven up coffee prices and hit families’ pocketbooks.

“President Trump took office after promising to lower costs for Americans ‘on day one,’ and in recent weeks has claimed to have ‘solved’ affordability. In reality, prices for everyday goods are rising,” wrote Ranking Member Warren. “Several studies have concluded that the President’s tariffs have contributed to higher prices for consumers… And on top of his tariffs, President Trump’s bill to cut taxes for billionaires – the One Big Beautiful Bill Act – is driving up the cost of health care, groceries, and energy. His immigration policies are shrinking the labor force in ways that will likely drive additional price increases.”

“These policies are raising the cost of numerous consumer goods – including coffee. Coffee, which is essentially not produced at all in the United States, was subject to tariffs in April 2025,” she continued.

In the letter, Warren notes that despite President Trump’s executive order late last year exempting coffee and other agricultural products from tariffs – after those tariffs had been in place for most of 2025 – data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows coffee prices jumped 18.4 percent between February 2025 and February 2026. Those prices are expected to continue to climb in 2026 as companies sell through inventory that was stockpiled prior to Trump’s tariff exemptions.

“Meanwhile, last month the Supreme Court ruled that the President’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to implement tariffs was illegal. That ruling introduces a new layer of uncertainty and disruption: large corporations are demanding refunds, while consumers remain stuck with the higher price levels that took hold under Trump’s sweeping tariff regime and continued uncertainty of future tariffs,” she concluded.

The Ranking Member requested written responses from Keurig Dr Pepper and J.M. Smuckers detailing the impact of President Trump’s economic policies on coffee products and imports by March 26, 2026.

These letters are the latest in a series to Administration officials and big corporations investigating the impacts of President Trump’s failure to lower costs for American consumers.

  • In February, Senator Warren launched a new probe into President Trump’s failure on affordability by directly requesting his plans to lower costs for families after he failed to deliver any during his State of the Union Address.
  • In February, Senator Warren requested information from Amazon about the scale and timing of price increases on its platform, the extent to which they have been caused by President Trump’s actions, and what Amazon is doing to mitigate their impact.

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