Buy Your Chocolate While You Can Afford It! (I did): 38% and 21% Tariffs on the Highest Cocoa Producing Countries.

I just bought several pounds of my favorite Belgian Dark Chocolate in light of this recent news. The highest cocoa producing countries, Ghana and The Ivory Coast, are slated to be charged 38% and 21% tariffs, respectively, for their exports by the Trump administration. Depending on the country, new tariffs are anywhere between 10%, the baseline tariff for all countries, and 38%, according to Americas Quarterly. (Though worldwide, 50% is the highest so far – or 145%, depending on the day!)

“There are over 2 million small cocoa farms in [the West] African region thanks to its favorable climate and fertile soils that make the land ideal for cocoa cultivation. These and other regions 20 degrees north and south of the equator also offer the essential climatic conditions—hot and humid—for growing cocoa,” according to the Cocoa Confectionary Company.

Chocolate is Important!

I recommend dark chocolate as the rare healthy treat that has virtually no downsides. And just about everyone loves it. It’s an excellent choice for people with diabetes because chocolate has a low glycemic index, with dark chocolate being about 22 and milk chocolate at about 50. Just keep the amount to no more than about an ounce, which costs about 150 to 170 calories. A luxurious dessert for my guests is topping a bowl of fresh raspberries with dark chocolate shavings. I like to chop dark chocolate into my evening yogurt.

Cocoa and dark chocolate have been associated with a reduction in all causes of death. In fact,  “chocolate contains several health-promoting factors (bioactive components – polyphenols, flavonoids, procyanidins, theobromines, etc, and vitamins and minerals) that positively modulate the immune system of human beings. It confers safeguards against cardiovascular diseases, certain types of cancers, and other brain-related disorders like Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, etc. Dark chocolate is considered a functional food due to its anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory, and anti-microbial properties. It also has a well-established role in weight management and the alteration of a lipid profile to a healthy direction,” according to a 2022 study in Current Research in Food Science.

For more on chocolate’s health benefits, check out my Washington Post article.

NOTE: I keep my chocolate in the refrigerator to keep it fresh