It’s no secret that President Trump doesn’t like the North American Fair Trade Agreement (NAFTA)—he used the phrase “worst trade deal ever” approximately a zillion times during the 2016 campaign. And now that the NAFTA nations (Mexico, Canada, and the US) are in talks, the potential effects of the US pulling out of the trade pact are coming into focus. News flash: The changes could be huge—and could even affect your meal planning.
According to a new, extensive report released by global consulting firm A.T. Kearney, you can expect your local produce section to get a lot more sparse without all the fruits and veggies imported from Canada and Mexico.
In partnership with the Food Marketing Institute, A.T. Kearney found that grocery stores in the U.S. have $182 billion worth of imported foods from NAFTA partners. “Without NAFTA, tariffs would increase the cost of these products by $5.3 billion annually,” the report states. That means that what is available would get a lot more expensive. (It’s that simple fifth-grade school lesson of supply-and-demand.)
“Without NAFTA, tariffs would increase the cost of these [food] products by $5.3 billion annually.” —A.T. Kearney report
The biggest foods that will be affected: chocolate (essentially cause for a national emergency), asparagus (the US gets a lot from Mexico), avocados (93 percent sold in the US come from Mexico), and tomatoes.
“As NAFTA partners renegotiate to modernize the agreement, preserving its win-win environment will be crucial to support healthy retail businesses and their bottom lines, jobs, customer relationships, and the economy as a whole,” the report reads. Hey, better stock up on chocolate and avocados now—just in case.
Speaking of grocery shopping, here are six food shopping mistakes even healthy people make. And here’s how to make your healthy food even healthier.
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