Kristen Schwab

The U.S.

imports about a third of its beans from Brazil, a country not on the exemption list.

The tax rate for imports from Brazil is 50 percent.

Meanwhile, coffee costs have been rising because of extreme weather.

Ricky Volpe, a professor of agribusiness at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, says a tariff exemption is welcome news because it could help slow inflation.

There are so many other factors that influence the price of food, like cost of labor, transportation and warehousing.

Plus, there are other tariffs.

Farm equipment, processing machines, storage shelves, the list goes on.

Luis Rivera, an agriculture economist at Texas A&M University, says there's also the issue of policy perception, whether businesses think the exemptions will stick.

Uncertainty comes with costs for importers here, also for exporters abroad.

Namowitz, the coffee importer, says his growers are worried.

If growers of coffee or bananas or other imports shrink their crop or shut down, it could squeeze supply.

I'm Kristen Schwab for Marketplace.