Firsd Tea Responds To Proposed China Tea Tariffs

Tuesday 6 August 2019
Firsd Tea North America, Lyndhurst, NJ

On Thursday, August 2nd, President Trump has again proposed tariffs on an additional $300 Billion of Chinese goods, including tea, to begin on September 1. The announcement indicated that the tariff, which would begin at 10%, could be raised to 25%.

As we stated in our testimony before the US Trade Commission, HERE, Firsd Tea would like to reiterate that the tariff will not harm the China tea industry, but will harm US tea businesses, and will not protect any tea technology or US tea production. The US tea industry is caught up in something bigger and stands to suffer because of it. However, recent history has also shown that some of these threats of tariff are mainly being used as leverage to close a trade deal, and do not necessarily go into effect. Our position, as before, has been to hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

In addition to the previous steps we have taken (testimony and bulking up our U.S. inventory), Firsd Tea is working to:

1. Add further supply of high-priority teas in our U.S. warehouses, with containers on the water and others scheduled to depart prior to Sept 1,

2. Provide alternative or flexible options to our customers on a case-by-case basis, including contract purchases with locked-in pricing and reserved quantities.

The tariffs were initially scheduled to begin in June, and Firsd Tea testified at hearings in Washington DC in opposition to the tariff on Chinese tea imports. You can read more about the tariff developments and Firsd Tea testimony here:

Read Firsd Tea’s written testimony at US Trade Commission:
http://firsdtea.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Firsd_Tea_Jason_Walker_Testimony_Statement_USTR-2019-0004-0001.pdf

World Tea News: Tariff Truce Eases…Tea Trade Worries
https://worldteanews.com/tea-industry-news-and-features/tariff-truce-eases-but-does-not-eliminate-tea-trade-worries

South China Morning Post: Storm In a Teacup?
https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/3015524/storm-teacup-trump-goes-after-all-tea-china-latest-tariff-push

Firsd Tea continues to monitor the situation carefully, and has provided a voice to the government and press on behalf of our customers and the US tea-drinking public.

Please CONTACT US to find out more about how Firsd Tea is working to protect the US tea industry from China tea tariffs.
For more information contact:

Jason Walker
Marketing Director
jason.walker@firsdtea.com
201-528-7916