Following President Donald Trump's new tariff decision, the U.S. customs agents now began collecting tariffs on all imported goods from many countries, with a 10% base line tariff to higher levies on goods from 57 larger trading partners. One of the sectors that would be affected by the USA's new import tariff regime is the floriculture industry.
The floriculture industry of the United State of America is heavily relying on imports to meet domestic demand, especially for popular blooms like roses, summer flowers and orchids. The daily demand for flowers is very huge which is estimated to be 10 million stems. The country's domestic flower production satisfies only 20% of local needs and the rest 80% are used to be filled by import . Since the country is unable to meet this supply space, different countries are looking for this potential market to fill this gap.
Ethiopia is one of the African countries which has strived to maximize its gain from the USA flower market for a long time. The most recent statistical information of Ethiopian Custom Commissions and various related reports reveals that out of the top ten flower market destinations of Ethiopia, USA placed in 6th order or rank. For the last 4 consecutive Ethiopian fiscal years, between 2020 to 2024, the volume of flower exported to the USA market grew with an average rate of 25%. The total volume of flower supply to the USA in this fiscal year was about 7,977.00 tons, with total turnover amounting about 45 million USD. This volume seems very large when we compare the actual quantities of flowers supplied to Japan , Italy, Germany, Spain, Canada and neighbouring African countries. Ross, Summer flower, rooted and unrooted cuttings are among the most important types of flower supplied to this market. Farms which supply their flower products are 7 in number and are all foreign owned. .