How this vegetable became the latest symbol of America’s affordability squeeze

Tomatoes, ubiquitous in everything from fast-food burgers to haute cuisine, are taking on a new role beyond the plate: A nagging reminder of rising costs.Prices for those red orbs have soared more than any other food product over the past year to cement a spot as one of the consumer headaches du jour.“The tomato has become a symbol of something much deeper,” says Isaac Bernal Carbajo, a New York City chef who lamented life’s “simplest pleasures” falling victim to price increases. “Something as basic as buying fresh vegetables is starting to become a serious financial decision for many families.”Tomato prices are up about 40 over a year ago, according to the latest Consumer Price Index, dwarfing increases for other groceries, including coffee (up 18.5), beef roasts (up 17.8) and frozen fish and seafood (up 12), among other products that have become symbols of America’s affordability squeeze.A separate inflation gauge released Thursday showed that overall prices increased 3.8 in April from a year earlier, the highest reading in nearly three years.Alongside crop yields, experts blame price increases for tomatoes, in part, on two pillars of President Donald Trump’s second-term policies: the Iran war and tariffs. The war spiked gas prices and increased shipping costs. Meantime, the U.S. withdrew from a deal allowing duty-free imports of tomatoes from Mexico, which grows most of America’s supply.Usha Haley, a Wichita State University economist, says it’s “a perfect storm of trade policy, extreme weather and Mideast policy.”American tomato farmers cheered the withdrawal from the tomato deal last July, saying it would help rebuild their shrinking industry. But for consumers, it’s been painful. Though the U.S. withdrew from the Mexico tomato deal in July, it took time to see the impact in the produce aisle, with more imports in late winter and early spring.When the tomatoes arrived, they were slapped with a 17 tariff.“Tariffs are undeniably a big driver of the price inflation,” says Brett Massimino, a Virginia Commonwealth University business professor. “Because the U.S. relies on Mexico for the majority of its tomato supply, any changes in trade policy can have a large impact.”U.S. tariffs collected on tomatoes ballooned from just 16,424 in 2024 to nearly 4.6 million, according to federal data, a staggering 27,879 increase.As the cost trickles down, outraged shoppers have pulled out their phones in the produce aisle, shooting videos lamenting costs they said quadrupled, with some vowing to plant a garden to avoid prices of up to 8 a pound. But the impact has been most pronounced for businesses that rely on tomatoes as a key ingredient in their kitchens.MarginEdge, which tracks prices for restaurants, says grape tomatoes have increased most — 65 in just a month — but prices have gone up across all types of tomatoes.Phillip Coles, a professor of supply chain management at Lehigh University, says prices should drop later in the year when domestically grown tomatoes are harvested. Higher prices, he says, will also “induce farmers to increase planting to meet the demand, but this takes longer because of the lead time.”Meantime, it’s translating to a big hit for businesses like Snarf’s Sandwiches, which puts a tomato in nearly every sandwich it makes.Wayne Humphrey, chief operating officer of Snarf’s, which operates dozens of stores in Colorado, Missouri and Texas, said cases of tomatoes went from costing him 27 to 93 in the space of a year, piled on top of rising expenses for other ingredients including bread and beef, as well as increased labor costs.“That single ingredient now costs us more than 1.7 million in additional spend annually,” says Humphrey. “The math is getting harder to ignore.” Associated Press writer Dee-Ann Durbin contributed to this report. Matt Sedensky can be reached at msedensky@ap.org and https://x.com/sedensky —Matt Sedensky, AP National Writer