How tariffs will impact consumers buying fresh produce

Last week President Donald Trump announced the U.S. will impose a 10% tariff on more than 50 countries, going into effect April 5. He said the U.S. will also impose reciprocal higher tariffs on countries with which the U.S. has a large trade deficit. Those will go into effect April 9 at 12:01 a.m.

Also in that announcement, President Trump indicated goods that fall under the U.S.-Canada-Mexico Free Trade Agreement would continue to see 0% tariffs, and this includes imported fresh fruits and vegetables.

Dante Galeazzi, president and CEO of the Texas International Produce Association, says the fresh produce industries in Mexico and Canada dodged a bullet with this announcement, but the fresh produce industry didn’t come out entirely unscathed from the impact of tariffs.

“They are the principal sourcing point for a lot of our imported fruits and vegetables," he says. "However, our fresh produce industry was not entirely spared, and I say that because consumers need to be aware that especially at this time of year, before the United States has started their spring/slash summer season, we are still depending on imports for a lot of fresh produce items that are going to be impacted by these tariffs.”

Galeazzi said this includes fresh produce from Central American countries such as avocados from Columbia, grapes from Chile and asparagus from Peru.

“As a result, all of these locations in Latin America are receiving at minimum, a 10% tariff," he said. "So if you were paying $1 for your mango, it's going to be $1.10 now.”

He said consumers may not see price increases initially, but closer to May because retailers purchased the fresh produce currently in store at a previous price.

“It's probably going to be a month or so before you start to see price increases because of the way that fresh produce moves through the system," he said. "You've already got stuff on the shelf that was bought at a previous price, and the stuff that's going to be behind that immediately for the next two weeks is going to be all these items that were priced ahead of the tariffs. At some point, three to four weeks from now, the new produce will start coming in that has been subject to the tariffs. And so that's the point where you could start seeing price increases.”

Galeazzi said overall, President Trump’s announcement is fairly good news for the fresh produce industry, especially the growers in Canada and Mexico.

"As an industry, we were very fortunate that none of our major sourcing points received the very high tariff rates that we saw go against some of the other countries, like China and India," he said. "And so as a result, your fresh produce should experience very minimal price increases. But the best part is that you will have availability at the fresh produce aisle. The good news is Americans, large and wide, will continue to have the availability they enjoy today. They might just pay another dime or more to get that fresh produce.”