Did Trump take tomato? Here’s what’s behind the latest grocery price

Did Trump take tomato?

A meme called “Trump take egg” was circling around this time last year as U.S. and Canadian consumers grappled with sky-high egg prices and blamed the U.S. president. But now, as The Associated Press points out, there’s a new symbol of America’s affordability crisis: the tomato.

In the U.S., tomato prices are up about 40 per cent over a year ago, according to the latest Consumer Price Index, dwarfing increases for other groceries. 

Canada isn’t faring much better, with tomato prices up 21 per cent in April compared to a year earlier — also the highest year-over-year price increase for any grocery item measured in the Consumer Price Index, beating coffee and beef.

And once again, experts are pointing to Trump’s policies for the price surge, alongside crop yields and other issues. Specifically, U.S. analysts are blaming the pillars of his second-term policies: the Iran war and tariffs.

It’s “a perfect storm of trade policy, extreme weather and Mideast policy,” Usha Haley, a Wichita State University economist in Kansas, told The Associated Press.

In Canada, consumers are posting about the high price of tomatoes on social media and some businesses are wondering if they can afford to keep tomatoes on the menu.

The prices are particularly concerning, considering that, “tomatoes are probably one of the most popular produce out there,” Sylvain Charlebois, director of Dalhousie University’s Agri‑Food Analytics Lab in Halifax, told CBC News.

WATCH | St. John’s pub takes tomato off the menu:

Club sandwiches and nachos will be missing one element at this St. John’s pub

The price of 10 pounds of tomatoes has more than doubled, say the owners of the St. John’s Embassy, a downtown pub, so they are getting temporarily kicked off the menu. The CBC’s Elizabeth Whitten reports.

‘Are we supposed to survive this?’

The Associated Press reports that outraged U.S. shoppers have pulled out their phones in the produce aisle, shooting videos lamenting costs they say have quadrupled, with some vowing to plant a garden to avoid prices of up to $8 US per pound.

In Canada, consumers and business owners coast to coast have also lamented the price of tomatoes, which, according to the most recent retail price data were an average $6.10 per kilogram in March, up a dollar from a year earlier.

“$5 for a single tomato! I can barely believe my eyes,” Toronto content creator Sonduren Fanarredha posted on Instagram at the end of April.

“Are we supposed to survive this?” posted a small business owner in a Victoria, B.C., subreddit in April, alongside a photo of Roma tomatoes at a wholesale store selling for $10.67 per kilogram.