Tomato prices to increase as new tariffs are implemented
- Alexangel Ventura
- Jul 14
- 1 min read
The price of tomatoes are set to increase significantly after the Trump administration passed new tariffs today on imported tomatoes, particularly from Mexico.
For context, the Trump administration made it evident that they wanted to repeal the Tomato Suspension Agreement between the United States and Mexico which made free trade of the food product more efficient.
"The [Tomato Suspension Agreement] has failed to protect U.S. tomato growers from unfairly priced Mexican imports, as Commerce has been flooded with comments from them urging its termination. This action will allow U.S. tomato growers to compete fairly in the marketplace," the Department of Commerce stated on April 14th, the overseer of commerce between farmers/suppliers and companies/consumers.
However, this aspect of the policy is not the most dangerous for the potential of price increases and subsequently inflation. The Trump administration announced this week that it will be increasing the tariff on Mexican tomatoes by some value between 17% and 21%.
The most worrying aspect of this new tariff is that Mexico accounts for almost 70% of the market share of tomatoes in the domestic market, meaning that most tomato products will be directly impacted by these tariffs.
Despite these concerns, some have praised the act for allowing more fair competition for American farmers while also inhibiting duties that Mexico imposes on the United States.
"The only way to level the playing field is to end the agreement and enforce fair trade," said executive CP of the Florida Tomato Exchange Robert Guenther.
