Outside of Kyoto, Japan, in a small metropolis known as Uji, tea farmer Yoshitsugu Furukawa is struggling to determine what President Donald Trump’s 15% tariffs on all Japanese exports set to enter impact on Aug. 1 might imply for his household enterprise.
"I would understand imposing these tariffs for things that would create competition," Furukawa advised ABC News. "For example, if it’s an automobile, they are manufactured in the U.S. and in Japan as well, so it can pose a threat. Whereas tea, currently there is no matcha making in the U.S., so it’s not going to hurt anyone in the U.S. So, for things like that it should be tariff free."
Furukawa, whose craft has been handed right down to him by six generations, grows tencha tea leaves on his household’s farm in Uji. Tencha leaves are then bought to wholesalers who undertake the laborious technique of turning uncooked tea leaves into matcha powder, which is then bought to retailers in Japan, and now, all around the world.
