Free Trade

Meet The Spice Entrepreneur Challenging Trump's Newest Tariffs

"There is no domestic alternative" for peppercorns grown in Zanzibar or herbs from the south of France, says Ori Zohar, the former Shark Tank contestant taking the administration to court.

Eric Boehm | 7.31.2026 11:40 AM

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(Photo: Burlap & Barrel/Liberty Justice Center)

International commerce has changed a lot since the long-ago days when spice traders pieced together the first global network for buying stuff you couldn't grow on your own.

One thing that hasn't changed? You still can't get Vietnamese cinnamon without trading with Vietnam, or Herbes de Provence without buying it from someone in France.

"That's part of our argument," says Ori Zohar, co-founder of Burlap & Barrel, a single-source spice importer and retailer.

"Some of these tariffs, some of the collateral damage from these tariffs, is that they are written in such a broad way," Zohar told Reason. "That's targeting businesses like ours, where there is no domestic alternative."

Zohar and his company, with help from the Liberty Justice Center, are suing the Trump administration over the latest set of tariffs announced last week. Those tariffs range from between 10 percent and 12.5 percent—depending on the origin of the imported goods—and are ostensibly meant to combat "forced labor." In reality, the tariffs seem to have little........

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