President Donald Trump, during his announcement last week of sweeping tariffs on countries around the world, called groceries an “old-fashioned” and “beautiful term.” But his policies will make America’s groceries more expensive today, supermarket executives and food industry experts say.
Supermarkets sell imported items in every section of the store: from fresh and packaged foods to household basics. Trump instituted 10% tariffs across all countries last Saturday. US businesses shipping goods from overseas will pay for those tariffs, and they will pass some of the higher costs down to consumers.
Shoppers can expect to see prices rise on seafood, coffee, fruit, cheese, nuts, candy bars and other imported foods, according to experts. Items that contain ingredients and packaging like plastic and aluminum from other countries will also be hit. Perishable food prices will rise first, followed by shelf-stable goods. Customers may also see smaller-sized products, known as shrinkflation, and find that certain versions of items have been eliminated as companies try to offset their cost hikes from tariffs.
Customers can expect grocery prices to increase “in the next couple of weeks,” said John Ross, the CEO of IGA, a chain of independent grocery stores. “Shoppers will start seeing it at scale across the store in the next 90 days.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/04/09/business/grocery-prices-tariffs/index.html