Goodbye to cheap avocados and beef: These are the products that could become more expensive with Trumps tariffs

Trump followed through on his threat to slap tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China on Saturday. He signed an executive order placing a 10% import duty on all Chinese goods and a 25% levy on goods brought into the US from Canada and Mexico, with a carve out for Canadian energy and oil exports which will be taxed at 10%.

The move sets the stage for a potential trade war with the nation’s three largest trading partners with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announcing retaliatory 25% tariffs on $155 billion of US goods. It will also most likely be felt soon by US consumers with the tariffs going into effect at 12:01 am EST on Tuesday and expected to raise the cost of a range of goods.

Contrary to what Trump has repeated over and over again, tariffs are a tax paid by the US importer of the goods and not the exporter in the foreign nation. That increased cost is generally passed onto the consumer and more likely so for goods that have thin margins like produce and other food items that Americans will be purchasing at the grocery store ahead of the Super Bowl next Sunday.

Guacamole! Trump tariffs could make consumers dip deeper into wallets for Super Bowl staple

Nowadays, no Super Bowl party buffet table is complete without a bowl of guacamole and the main ingredient for that delicious dip is avocado. Unfortunately for US consumers, the overwhelming vast majority of them come from Mexico and they will cost US importers 25% more starting Tuesday and consumers can expect that the increase will be passed onto them.

“Grocery stores operate on really tiny margins,” Scott Lincicome, vice president of general economics at the Cato Institute told CBS News. “They can’t eat the tariffs ... especially when you talk about things like avocados that basically all of them — 90% — come from Mexico. You’re talking about guacamole tariffs right before the Super Bowl.”

And it won’t be just avocados and guacamole that are more than likely to get more expensive. In 2023, the US imported $45.4 billion in agricultural goods from Mexico. 72.5% of those goods that year consisted of vegetables, fruit, beverages and distilled spirits.

The tariffs on goods from our neighbor to the north will also likely negatively impact how much you pay in the coming weeks and months at the grocery store. The US imported $37.3 billion worth of agricultural goods in 2022 from Canada. Over 63% of those Canadian agricultural goods consisted of meat, grains, oilseeds and related products.

Are tariffs effective?

The White House says that Trump imposed the tariffs in order to pressure the three countries into stopping the flow of fentanyl and immigrants into the US and they will stay in place until “the crisis is alleviated,” said the president.

If past is prologue, the tariffs will be self-defeating. While the impacts will be felt more heavily in the economies of Canada and Mexico the US economy will get stung too.

The last time Trump was in office he imposed tariffs on China which failed to get many of the desired concessions and China has largely failed to meet its commitments under the trade deal negotiated with Trump. The trade war that it sparked led to higher prices for US consumers and a loss of manufacturing jobs as well as a reduction in corporate investments.

Additionally, the vast majority of the money collected was paid to American farmers to compensate them for losses caused by retaliatory Chinese tariffs.

Get your game on! Whether you’re into NFL touchdowns, NBA buzzer-beaters, world-class soccer goals, or MLB home runs, our app has it all.

Dive into live coverage, expert insights, breaking news, exclusive videos, and more – plus, stay updated on the latest in current affairs and entertainment. Download now for all-access coverage, right at your fingertips – anytime, anywhere.