There are many factors that drive food prices up and down, including droughts and other weather events, labor prices, and fertilizer costs. For imported foods, tariffs are one more factor that drives prices up.
America imported over $194 billion worth of food products last year. Many of these are products such as coffee and bananas that simply cannot be grown in the United States; others are products such as fresh vegetables that are produced only seasonally in the United States.
Tariff increases implemented earlier this year significantly increased the cost of imported food, contributing to higher prices at the grocery store and for restaurants.
In a welcome move, President Trump rescinded the increased tariffs on hundreds of agricultural products on November 14. In just four months of 2025, the federal government collected an additional $1.5 billion in extra tariffs, compared to 2024, on the items that going forward will be exempt from additional tariffs. That is a 647% increase in taxes on food and agriculture items. A U.S. Chamber analysis of customs data reveals that the removal of these tariffs will result in a significant reduction in the cost of imported food items and put downward pressure on grocery prices.
Specifically, the Chamber looked at the food and agriculture items exempted from higher tariffs via the President’s November 14th Executive
Order and compared the amount of tariffs collected on those items in April through July of last year with the amount of tariffs collected in April through July of this year (the most recent data available).
Article by Neil Bradley, US Chamber of Commerce