Colombia's cut flower industry has grown into a $2.4 billion export sector over six decades, supplying approximately 60 percent of flowers sold in the United States and employing more than 200,000 people across over 115 municipalities. The U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement (CTPA), in effect since May 2012, provided the duty-free market access that underpinned this expansion, helping nearly double export values and more than double employment.
However, the industry now faces an unprecedented convergence of pressures. The 10 percent tariff imposed in April 2025 — the first U.S. duty on Colombian flowers in over a decade — is estimated to add more than $200 million in annual costs to the sector; it is compounded by a 23.7 percent minimum wage increase and a nearly 12 percent appreciation of the Colombian peso against the dollar.
At the same time, Colombia's longstanding competitive advantage in the U.S. market could shift as new bilateral trade agreements between Washington and other flower-exporting nations take hold.
The USDA has released a report into the industry, highlighting the relationship between Colombian grown flowers and the US importing industry through six decades of growth and struggle. The report is available to read at the link here.
