Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) recently faced pushback for her explanation of how tariffs placed on goods imported from Colombia could lead to increased prices American consumers are forced to pay for coffee. As Trump has touted his tariff policies to protect American industry, Democrats have claimed they might have an inflationary effect on domestic prices.
AOC’s economic commentary came as President Trump and Colombian President Gustavo Petro had a brief dispute over deporting illegal immigrants back to Colombia. After Petro initially claimed he would not comply with the president flying them directly back into the country, Trump threatened to slap a 25 percent tariff on all Colombian goods coming into the U.S. Colombia quickly backed down and agreed to accept the deportees.
Addressing the South American country, President Trump said, “We will not allow the Colombian Government to violate its legal obligations with regard to the acceptance and return of the Criminals they forced into the United States!” However, Trump faced pushback from liberal critics, such as Rep. Ocasio-Cortez.
Taking to X, the progressive “Squad” member wrote, “To “punish” Colombia, Trump is about to make every American pay even more for coffee. Remember: *WE* pay the tariffs, not Colombia.” She proceeded to suggest that the move was motivated by Trump’s desire for personal gain. “Trump is all about making inflation WORSE for working-class Americans, not better. He’s lining the pockets of himself and the billionaire class,” she added.
Following her claims about Trump’s policy, AOC was fact-checked on her claim that the consumer would end up paying for the increased price of the imported coffee. As Breitbart News economics editor John Carney put it, “While critics of tariffs frequently claim that importers will pass the cost of tariffs on to consumers, there is little evidence to support that view. When Trump imposed tariffs on goods from China and on imported steel and aluminum, the prices of consumer goods did not rise.”
Continuing to pick part AOC’s economic argument, he added, “Typically, when a large economy imposes tariffs, the exporters reduce their prices to stay competitive and defend their market share. As a result, much of the cost of the tariff is borne by the exporters rather than consumers. To the extent that tariffs are not paid for by exporters, they tend to be absorbed by the importing merchants rather than consumers.”
Others on social media criticized AOC’s take in the comments section under her post. “You have no idea how tariffs work,” one person wrote. Another person pointed out that the U.S. sources coffee from other places besides Colombia. We get coffee from more places than Columbia. We get coffee from Columbia but also Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Ecuador, Brazil, Ethiopia, Kenya, Indonesia,” they said.
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Explaining the economic impact of tariffs one person commented, “Tariffs are paid by the country that it is imposed on, its Econ 101. We get coffee beans from dozens of countries, so if there’s any price increase, it will only be on select brands, and people will just buy cheaper coffee.” One Trump supporter highlighted the logic behind the move, writing,”If you knew anything about anything, you know that we don’t pay the tariffs. It incentivizes people to buy things from their own country, or companies to move their company , making the country as a whole wealthier.”: