6 days ago
Ivory Coast vows to find new cocoa buyers if Trump imposes tariffs
Ivory Coast will look for new markets for its cocoa, away from the US, if the administration of President Donald Trump goes through with its threat to impose 15% tariffs, two officials said.
The West African nation would have alternatives to consider in a fiercely competitive sector, one of the officials, from the agriculture ministry, added.
"The United States is doing the opposite of what it should be doing," the official said.
The world's biggest cocoa producer currently exports up to 300,000 metric tons of cocoa beans to the US each year, according to its Coffee and Cocoa Council.
That amounted to $368m (R6.62bn) worth of beans in 2023, or about 10% of Ivory Coast's cocoa exports, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity, making the US its fourth largest market behind the Netherlands, Malaysia and Belgium.
Under revised terms announced last week by Trump and set to take effect on August 7, goods from Ivory Coast will be subject to a 15% tariff. Its cocoa and other goods are currently duty free under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), US legislation enacted in 2000.
