President-elect Donald Trump won the race ahead of VP Harris while blasting the Dems’ economic performance and soaring inflation, but his sweeping tariffs on Mexico and Canada could actually make groceries more expensive in the U.S.
Trump said Monday he would take executive action to impose a 25-percent tariff on products entering the U.S. from those countries in an effort to try curtail the influx of drugs and migrants crossing the border—on day one of his second stint as president.
But, economic analyst Catherine Rampell said on CNN Monday night that instead of his policies bringing food costs down, Trump’s decision would increase prices.
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“If you voted for Trump because you thought he was going to bring grocery prices down, I have some very bad news for you,” she said. “A lot of our produce comes from Mexico. Two thirds of the tomatoes that Americans purchase are from Mexico, 90 percent of the avocados they purchase are from Mexico so just imagine two examples, that guac is going to cost extra.”
And two-thirds (69-percent) of Americans actually think Trump tariffs will lead to higher prices, a Harris poll for The Guardian found. Reacting to the news on X (formerly Twitter) one commentator, called Lonnie Toft, said they believe Trump might have to call on his new buddy Elon Musk to help out.
Lonnie’s tongue-in-cheek post read: “I believe the new plan is for Elon to bring lettuce, tomatoes, strawberries, etc back from space.” Another user said: “Good luck saving money” while a third added: “Y’all will be broke..BROKE.. but hey, at least you owned the Libs!”
For their part, fervent Trump supporters appear steadfast in their backing of the incoming White House chief, but considering Mexico is the second largest trading partner for the U.S., with nearly $1.8 billion in products and services crossing the U.S.-Mexico border daily, there might be an economic impact to his decision.
Walmart’s chief financial officer, John David Rainey, has already said “there probably will be cases where prices will go up for consumers” with tariffs. Lowe’s CFO, Brandon Sink, has said that tariffs “certainly would add product costs”.
And Trump, who campaigned on aggressive tariffs despite many economists' warnings about subsequent price increases for American consumers, would be violating his own 2020 trade agreement if he followed through.
The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), ensures that goods moving among the named countries do so duty-free.
But if Trump has his way, that looks set to change. Democratic Senator Roland Gutierrez of Texas says that America will “pay the price.”
He wrote on X: “Donald Trump wants to deport everyone that picks the fruits and vegetables we grow, and raise the prices of the food we import.
“Trump is back to starting trade wars, now America is going to pay the price.”
So what can we do about it? X user Dwayne Domi has an idea. “Make American tomatoes great again,” he wrote.
