On Tuesday, Senator Reverend Warnock visited Xocolatl Chocolate to meet with its owners and discuss the impact the Trump administration’s tariffs are having on Georgia small businesses

Xocolatl has been forced to pay tariff rates as high as 50% on some of the key ingredients it relies on to make its award-winning chocolate, including cocoa beans, which cannot be grown in the U.S. at scale due to climate limitations

These unanticipated costs have forced the company to pause its plans to hire additional employees and invest in expanding its production capacity

Analysts estimate that tariffs will cost the average American household $2,400 in 2025

Senator Warnock: “It’s inspiring to see this Georgia business. Here’s a young couple that’s come back to the state and they are growing their business – which means they’re creating jobs and sustaining families. The last thing they need is government adding another burden to the work that they’re trying to do”

Senator Warnock (center) with Xocolatl Chocolate owners Matt (left) and Elaine (right)

Atlanta, GA – U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) stopped by Atlanta small business Xocolatl Chocolate this week to hear first-hand how the Trump administration’s trade agenda is impacting Georgia businesses. Xocolatl employs more than a dozen Georgians in its award-winning factory and had plans to expand its operations until tariff rates instituted by President Trump forced Xocolatl owners Matt and Elaine to pause their plans. The company imports cocoa beans from central America and Africa due to climate limitations in the U.S., and imports sugar from Brazil

“Here’s an American business – a Georgia business – that is sourcing everything that they can from the U.S. They don’t need anybody convincing them to bring business back to Georgia,” said Senator Reverend Warnock. “Here’s a young couple that’s come back to the state and they are growing their business – which means they’re creating jobs and sustaining families. The last thing they need is government adding another burden to the work that they’re trying to do.”

The Trump administration’s varying tariff rates on goods from U.S. trading partners has made it difficult for Xocolatl to plan long-term. Cocoa is the foundation for everything the company does, and the company sources its beans directly from small farms in Nicaragua (18% tariff rate), Peru (10%), Uganda (15%), Dominican Republic (10%), and Tanzania (10%). The administration’s recent 50% tariff on goods from Brazil has made purchasing the sugar the company relies on much more expensive. As a result of the uncertainty, Matt and Elaine have been forced to stockpile raw materials they regularly use as a means of saving money.

“99% of the businesses in Georgia are small businesses. Small businesses really are the lifeblood of the Georgia economy, and businesses like this, they don’t have a lot of margin. Small businesses aren’t sitting on a large amount of capital that they can wait to see what’s going to happen on the other side of a 90-day pause in a reckless, unorganized tariff program that the President is conducting. Small businesses feel that almost immediately and higher costs get passed onto the consumer. It’s a drag on jobs, it’s a drag on small businesses’ ability to grow, to expand, and create more jobs. It is a drag on the Georgia economy,” Senator Reverend Warnock.

Before the tariffs, Matt and Elaine said rising costs were already impacting the company. The couple was paying between $4,500 and $6,000 a ton for cocoa beforethe tariffs and are now paying $14,000 a ton on some of their beans. Despite their current challenges, Xocolatl continues to purchase paper for its packaging from a paper mill in Michigan rather than lower-cost options from China, supporting American industry. However, the wood pulp used in its paper products originates in Canada, which means tariffs are raising costs on the domestically sourced packaging as well.

Senator Warnock continues to push back against the Trump administration’s reckless tariff policy and the uncertain market conditions it creates for Georgia businesses. As ranking member of the Finance Subcommittee on Trade, Customs, and Global Competitiveness, the senator has oversight jurisdiction over federal trade policies. In April, Senator Warnock pressed United States Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer on the economic fallout that the president’s tariffs are having on Georgia’s small businesses. During his comments, the senator stressed that the administration’s indiscriminate tariff policy is providing no avenue for relief for small business owners and Georgia producers.

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