TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — In the early evening, it's busy at the Food Conspiracy Co-op. Customers holding baskets criss cross in front of the refrigerated shelves of rainbow vegetables. A little sprinkler rains onto the wall of produce from above.
Interim General Manager Wynston Estis says things are calm at Downtown Tucson store. She calls it "the calm before the storm.”
She says it's harvest season in Mexico right now, and prices are normal for the wheat and canola oil that comes from Canada .
"Right now," Estis said. "We’re looking good."
Though, there is a cloud on the horizon for grocers like Food Conspiracy: The United states gets a lot of produce from Mexico. A United States Department of Agriculture study says in 2023, 63% of U.S. vegetable imports and 47% of fruit and nut imports came from Mexico.
Gov. Katie Hobbs met with importers in Nogales, Arizona Friday about the effects of tariffs on the state, calling the move "a bad business decision" that would hurt Arizonans.
“What this back and forth is doing is creating a lot of uncertainty. It’s creating uncertainty for the agricultural industry, across industry and across the community.”
On March 4, President Donald Trump hit China, Mexico and Canada with a 25% tax on imports from the country.
Days later, Trump reversed tariffs on some goods from Mexico and Canada that falls under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which includes automakers and agriculture.
The president said he spoke to President of Mexico Claudia Sheinbaun.
“We helped them out with a problem they were having, having to do with the tariffs— short term tariffs— and we had a very good conversation," he said, adding that the two also talked about drug flow across the border.
The pause on tariffs is temporary; they're scheduled to return on all imports on April 2.
That's the storm Estis was talking about.
"My goal is to be as prepared as possible," she said. "Can we reduce profit margin on certain things, get things on regular rotation so that we can make sure that the staples are available to our customer.”
But adds, "when the price raises to us, we have to then pass that on."
One of the things Estis says helps with prices is working with local producers. For shoppers, she says you can prepare for possible shortages— like the nationwide egg shortage— by learning more about your food and what could be good replacements.
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Alex Dowd is a multimedia journalist at KGUN 9, where her work combines her two favorite hobbies: talking to new people and learning about the community around her. Her goal is to eventually meet every single person in Tucson. Share your story ideas with Alex via email, alex.dowd@kgun9.com, or connecting on Instagram or X.
