The U.S. imports approximately 60% of its fresh fruit and 40% of its fresh vegetables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And among the countries of origin for those products, Mexico is the biggest contributor \u2014 meaning U.S. consumers could see higher prices for a range of grocery and produce items if President-elect Donald Trump follows through on his l<\/a>atest threat to\u2002<\/a>impose a 25% tariff on all items brought in across the southern border<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to data from the University of California<\/a>, Davis<\/a>, Mexico is the leading foreign supplier of tomatoes, avocados, raspberries, bell peppers and strawberries for the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Overall, Mexico made up 69% of U.S. vegetable imports and 51% percent of U.S. fresh fruit imports in 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Between 2000 and 2021, the value of Mexico\u2019s horticultural exports into the U.S. quadrupled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Beer is included in those categories \u2014 and a huge share of American drinkers could face higher costs too, given the popularity of Corona and Modelo, the latter of which is now the No. 1 brew in the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mexico\u2019s gains as a source of U.S. food imports are the result of lower labor costs \u2014 in some cases one-fifth those of U.S. farm worker compensation \u2014 and more favorable seasonality, meaning in certain cases, the products come in fresher because they can be grown year round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump has insisted that countries of origin would pay the cost of any tariffs his administration seeks to impose. Yet economists say that in most instances, the importing companies \u2014 which in theory would be based in the U.S. \u2014 would bear those costs, and in many cases ultimately pass them along to their end users: U.S. consumers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, those same economists continue to sound the alarm that Trump’s overall tariffs proposals, which would also include slapping 25% duties on Canadian imports and an additional 10% levy on Chinese goods, would reignite inflation. In a new note, analysts at Goldman Sachs estimated<\/a> Trump’s latest plans would cause inflation to increase by nearly 1%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet the analysts also insisted Trump’s announcement appears to be more of a “negotiating tactic” rather than an avowal of action. Notably, his latest statement \u2014 at least in the case of China \u2014 proposed a tariff level lower than the one he proposed during his campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Still, U.S. retailers are assuming Trump isn’t bluffing. In an interview with CNBC last week<\/a>, the chief financial officer of Walmart said the big-box giant was bracing for potentially higher prices for its customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe never want to raise prices,\u201d John David Rainey said. \u201cOur model is everyday low prices. But there probably will be cases where prices will go up for consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n