SAO PAULO (Reuters) – An application by the United States’ National Coffee Association (NCA) to get coffee exempted from tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump has been well received, the NCA’s CEO Bill Murray said during an industry event in Brazil’s Sao Paulo state on Wednesday.
“We think it is a good sign that our request has been well received and is being looked at, but it’s impossible to predict if that means anything,” Murray said via video call at an event held by Brazilian coffee roasters association ABIC in the city of Campinas.
Trump’s tariffs will levy a charge of 10% on imports from Brazil if a deal is not reached before a 90-day freeze declared by the U.S. president runs out.
The situation is incredibly dynamic, Murray said, adding that it was important to remember many industries in the U.S. are also trying to secure exemptions of their own, making the timing of any decisions difficult to guess.
“It’s really impossible to predict what a timeline might looks like,” he said.
(Reporting by Oliver Griffin; Editing by Chris Reese and Natalia Siniawski)
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