Trump’s tariffs give chocolate makers in Canada, Mexico an edge over U.S. firms

"Elbows Up" chocolate for sale at the Maker House in Ottawa (Katie Griffin/CTV News Ottawa)

LONDON/NEW YORK — U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs are meant to boost domestic manufacturing.

But in the chocolate industry, they’re doing the opposite: ramping up the cost of importing already-pricey cocoa and hurting the competitiveness of local factories versus Canadian and Mexican outfits that supply the U.S., according to conversations with 11 industry executives, representatives, experts and traders.

Under the United States-Mexico-Canada free trade pact (USMCA), which the Trump administration has confirmed remains in place, Canada and Mexico can export chocolate to the U.S. tariff-free no matter where they sourced their inputs of cocoa, a tropical crop that does not grow in the United States.

Canada also has zero tariffs on imports of raw and semi-processed cocoa like butter and powder, while Mexico grows its own beans, meaning factories both north and south of the U.S. border can produce more cheaply than those domestically who now have to pay tariffs of between 10 to 25 per cent on cocoa inputs. The rates could rise to 35 per cent on Aug. 1.

A government official said that the White House continues to monitor trends in trade and commerce and listen to industry feedback to deliver on Trump’s economic agenda.

Top U.S. chocolate maker Hershey, which mainly makes chocolate in the U.S. but has plants in Canada and Mexico, has estimated it would face US$100 million in tariff costs in its third and fourth quarters if the levies remain in place.

Smaller firms like Somerville, Massachusetts-based Taza Chocolate, which produces chocolate from scratch using imported cocoa, have no alternatives to U.S. manufacturing.

Taza in May had to pay $24,124 in duties on a container of cocoa from Haiti, subject to the blanket 10 per cent tariff imposed by Trump, a Customs and Border Protection invoice showed. Taza faces a customs check of more than $30,000 to release its next container of cocoa from the Dominican Republic, founder and CEO Alex Whitmore said.

“For a company our size, that’s our profit margin gone so the immediate thought is OK, the rules have changed, we just need to create the most cost-effective solution for the consumer,” said Whitmore.

He initially explored offshoring part of Taza’s manufacturing to Canada to benefit from USMCA terms, but decided against it given the significant investment of both money and time that would require, in a volatile business environment.

“Right now, the environment is so uncertain that we’re just hunkering down and hoping this will pass,” Whitmore said. “A lot of us business owners are kind of frozen.”

Customs data compiled for Reuters by Trade Data Monitor (TDM) shows Canada’s chocolate exports to the U.S. grew by 10 per cent in volume terms in the five months to end-May, indicating some Canadian manufacturers are taking advantage of the opportunity created by tariffs.

Companies benefiting are mostly Canadian and Mexican contract chocolate makers, or multinational contractors like Barry Callebaut that have a significant footprint in Canada and Mexico, industry sources said.

Barry Callebaut, which has just under half its North America chocolate factories in Canada and Mexico, declined to comment.

Its CEO Peter Feld said at its July post-results conference call: “On tariffs ... we have operations in the U.S., we have operations in Canada, we have operations in Mexico. So we can actually navigate this environment in the right way.”

Contract chocolate firms produce raw chocolate that U.S. factories add ingredients to and sell as American chocolate.

Tariffs - a pillar of Trump’s “America First” economic agenda - come at a delicate time for U.S. chocolate makers as consumers are already buying less after absorbing double-digit inflation over the past several years.

In chocolate specifically, prices have risen sharply as cocoa tripled in value to hit record highs in the first four months of last year, and remains well above historical averages because of adverse weather and disease in top growers Ivory Coast and Ghana.

Under pressure from rising input costs, Hershey earlier this month rolled out double-digit price hikes across its confectionary products like Reese’s cups to retailers like Walmart and Kroger.

Cocoa accounts for about 30 to 50 per cent of the cost of a bar of chocolate.

Hershey said its recent price hikes were not related to tariffs. Taza has raised its wholesale prices by 10 per cent since a year ago, and the price of its chocolate bars on its website rose in June to $6.99 from $5.99 previously, but Whitmore also said tariffs would cause further price hikes.

Because cocoa can’t be sourced domestically, Hershey said in May it is “engaging with the U.S. government to seek an exemption” for cocoa.

It declined to comment on whether it was counting on imports from its Canada and Mexico plants to help mitigate tariff costs.

M&Ms maker Mars, which said Tuesday it is investing $2 billion in its U.S. manufacturing, including chocolate, has not changed its sourcing structure and continues to make 94 per cent of its U.S. products locally. A Lindt LISN.S spokesperson said the Lindor truffle maker will decide on possible changes to its sourcing after Aug. 1.

Paolo Quadrini, director general of Mexican chocolate and candy association Aschoco Confimex, said U.S. tariffs are “creating new opportunities for Mexican companies.”

“The sentiment among companies and entrepreneurs, as well as requests from U.S. chocolate companies to manufacture in Mexico, is real and has been increasing,” he said.

The chocolate market in the U.S., the world’s top chocolate consumer, is worth $25 to 30 billion, according to investment bank TD Cowen, and imports from top supplier Canada account for about 10 per cent of that total, while those from No. 2 supplier Mexico account for some 2.5 per cent.

Tareq Hadhad, CEO of mid-sized Nova Scotia-based chocolate maker Peace by Chocolate said tariffs had largely prompted Canadian and American firms to opt for locally produced goods but that contract chocolate makers in Canada had benefited from the new trade dynamic.

“It’s an advantage for them,” he said.

(Reporting by May Angel, Helen Reid and Jessica DiNapoli; Editing by Lisa Jucca and Anna Driver)