Local Republican and Democratic leaders alike are up in arms about new 17% fees imposed on imported tomatoes.
Yes, they are about to get more expensive on your grocery store shelves, but the move could also hit Arizona jobs pretty hard.
Joanna Allhands reports the move by the Trump administration could imperil $8.3 billion of economic activity and about 50,000 jobs here and in Texas, where the tomato import business is robust.
Allhands is a columnist for the Arizona Republic’s opinion pages. She joined The Show along with editorial page editor Elvia Díaz this morning to talk more about it.
Full conversation
LAUREN GILGER: Let’s start with you, Joanna. This is a move that Florida is happy about because they grow more fresh tomatoes there than in any other state. And the idea here is to boost domestic tomato growers. But this, you say, could really hurt Arizona. Tell us how.
JOANNA ALLHANDS: Yeah. What’s interesting about what’s happened is that even if this works as expected and Florida gets more tomato production, really their industry, even though it’s the largest in the U.S., it pales in the size of the import industry that is in Arizona and Texas.
So really, if you’re boosting one state, it really kind of is coming at the expense of the others who have people who work in the importing business, who are bringing in tomatoes from Mexico to feed the American people.
GILGER: Right. It’s interesting. And we could also see prices go up for tomatoes. And that isn’t just on grocery store shelves right? That could have ripple effects in things that you’re buying at a restaurant or ordering, salsa — tomatoes are in so many things.
ALLHANDS: Right, right. Yeah. I mean, if you’re ordering a pizza, the sauce is going to have tomatoes. It’s not just the fresh tomatoes that you’re buying in a carton in the store, although that certainly is a huge part of this. And that’s the part where now it’s going to be subject to fees.
But I think what’s also interesting about what’s happened is that Mexico has invested in a lot of greenhouse technology to be able to grow tomatoes year-round. And these greenhouses that they have are really technologically advanced. So they can really pump out high yields of things, and especially the specialty tomatoes that we like. The grape tomatoes, the cherry tomatoes that people like to buy. Those are grown really well in greenhouses.
Florida hasn’t invested in that technology. Most of what they grow are still sort of the traditional, old-school slicing tomatoes. They know, pick them while they’re still green and then put them in these places and then use gas to ripen them. So it’s a whole different product.
And I don’t honestly know how they’re going to be able to keep pace with that production should we not be able to really get that produce from Mexico anymore, or if it’s becomes just too expensive because of the fees.
GILGER: Let me turn to you, Elvia, and ask a question about tariffs in general here and this tariff in particular. We’ve seen this play out so many times since the Trump administration took office. This time we’re seeing both Sen. Mark Kelly on the left and Rep. Andy Biggs on the right, right?
This is a bipartisan opposition to this move. Do you think that changes things?
ELVIA DÍAZ: No, unfortunately it doesn’t. But they are correct. Both Republicans and Democrats in this case, to be united in their situation. So it sounds great to just say America first and grow the tomatoes here. But Joanna explains that it’s at the expense of Arizona and Texas. You know.
Florida is a Republican state. It’s a MAGA state. So Trump is catering to them in this case by going back to Arizona. So we journalists normally talk about — and politicians too — how this is going to hit the consumers. And that’s the most important thing, right?
So I don’t think consumers are feeling that yet of any tariffs really hitting their wallet. They will, but they haven’t. So I don’t think that’s resonating so much.
But when you look at Arizona with the tomatoes, we’re talking about $2.6 billion worth of tomatoes that cross the border annually through the Nogales port of entry. That’s a huge, huge amount of money. And that really means more than 100 companies importing, distributing and warehousing and transporting the tomato just in Santa Cruz County.
And I believe I was reading a study from ASU that put the loss of jobs up to 22,000-23,000 just in Arizona because of the tariffs. So this is real. I mean, imagine what’s going to happen to all those 100 companies — and they’re relatively small, distributing companies with a few employees. That’s going to be very disruptive. There’s going to be a lot of people without jobs.
And if I have a job and you have a job and then you say, “Oh, well, we’re going to be fine.” But it’s not just about us. It’s the state economy that is at risk. That is going to be truly affected. And now we know that, yes, it is going into effect. So not surprising at all that Republicans and Democrats are united here in Arizona on this matter.
GILGER: Yeah, it’s interesting. Joanna, I wonder if you think about that in your coverage of tariffs. When does the rubber hit the road? QAs Elvia pointed out, people aren’t really feeling this in their pocketbooks quite yet. Does that have to happen for the general public to say these things are not a good idea for our state in this way or that way?
ALLHANDS: Yeah. Case in point, I just bought tomatoes this weekend, and my little carton of snacking tomatoes that I bought was like $2.50. And I had a 60-cent coupon. So it hasn’t hit anybody yet because some of this stuff, it just takes time.
It’s going to be the crop 30 days from now or so on that is going to be the one where you’re going to start to feel the increase of the fees. And it depends on the American public. Are they willing to pay an extra dollar or two? Does that really hit them?
Or is it sort of like what happened with eggs, where suddenly it was like, “Oh my gosh, we have $6, $10 a dozen eggs.” And then people said, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,” and then started speaking up to politicians. And then all this stuff started coming out.
So it depends on how much of a sticker shock we’re willing to take. I would hope that people would see it and say, “You know what? Hey, what’s happening?”
Even if it doesn’t hit their pocketbooks, though, if enough people — to Elivia’s point, if there’s 20,000 people in Arizona who could possibly be out of a job, especially in Santa Cruz County, that’s a huge industry for them. That just could get decimated. That really has impacts that go far beyond whether you’re going to buy cherry tomatoes at a store.
DÍAZ: We’re talking about a $124 million or so in state revenues, in state tax to the revenues. And so money going into the state coffers. And guess where the money goes? Everywhere. And this is coming at a time when revenues are down, when the federal government is taking a lot of programs that funnel and finance programs in Arizona — from education, from health care, from you name it.
So if you take more money out of the general fund, and that affects all of us who live in Arizona, and it does have a ripple effect. Again, the people — the middle class and the wealthy — are fine. They’re going to be fine. But then is the rest of the population that are going to feel this, and ultimately it is not good for this state.
So no, I believe that people who are paying attention understand this. The general population is too busy with whatever is happening out of Washington and the latest scandal to pay attention to how this is going to affect us.
