SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (WXYZ) — President Donald Trump's sweeping new tariffs went into effect on nearly every U.S. trading partner with nearly 70 countries impacted, including Mexico and Canada.
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Currently, food imports covered by the US-Mexico-Canada agreement, or USMCA, are exempted from tariffs. According to the tax foundation, that's about 63 percent of all agricultural imports. However, some food organizations like the National Restaurant Association worry that all might change.
The organization wrote a letter to President Trump, asking for food and beverages to be exempt from newly imposed tariffs on other countries.
As for restaurants here locally, just a few months ago, many restaurants dealt with the rising costs of eggs due to a shortage from a bird flu outbreak. Some restaurants passed on that extra cost to customers in the form of egg surcharges.
Sokol Hoxhallarri owns Martin's Coney Island in Southfield. He says he didn't pass on any egg surcharges or other added costs to his customers, but things may be a little different this time around if tariffs really start to hurt their bottom line.
“We’ll see how things go," Hoxhallarri said. "We’ll see what the food prices are. Obviously, it will go up. So, if we do have to make changes to the menu to increase the prices a little bit, it would just be to offset, you know, the new cost of food; nothing, you know, where we need to make extra money here, take advantage of, you know, the tariffs and just jack up the prices significantly. So, most likely we will adjust the prices.”
So it's just a waiting game to see if food prices increase for local restaurants, and by how much. Martin's says they want to continue to provide amazing food at great prices.
