Tomato prices

Time - Food prices have been quickly climbing for years now, and now there’s another staple that could see prices soon shoot up: tomatoes.

Mexican tomatoes are immediately being slapped with a 17% tariff, the U.S. Dept. of Commerce said on July 14, announcing it was withdrawing from a 2019 agreement that suspended tariffs on tomatoes imported from Mexico. 

That could affect a lot of grocery store tomatoes. Although the fruit—or vegetable, depending on who you ask—is also grown in Florida, about 70% of fresh tomatoes consumed in the U.S. are imported, and the majority come from Mexico, says David Ortega, a food economist at Michigan State University.

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Although the price of a bunch of tomatoes may only increase by a few dozen cents, the increase comes at a time when consumers are already sick of inflation, and when tariffs threatened by the Trump Administration could further drive up prices, he says.