Scott Lincicome
When the Washington Post recently asked House Representative Jared Golden (D‑ME) about the economic harms that would arise from the universal tariffs he (and President-elect Donald Trump) vocally supports, the congressman responded with his best Marie Antoinette impersonation:
“Avocados are nice, right? They have some omegas in them? But do we need to eat avocados? Do we need to eat them year-round?” he said. “Is there something grown here in America that delivers — I don’t know, American fish… We can get omega-3s and 6s through American-harvested food.”
At a time when many US tariff advocates pretend that these taxes are costless, I guess Rep. Golden deserves points for honesty. As my colleague Sophia Bagley and I wrote in 2023, about 90 percent of all avocados consumed in the United States are imported, and Americans enjoy hundreds of billions of dollars worth of food from abroad, much of it fresh fruits and vegetables that simply can’t be grown here in significant commercial quantities. Tariffs on these products would mean higher US food prices and less variety at the supermarket, making us all a little poorer in the process.
So why should we Americans be forced to make such a sacrifice? Well, according to Rep. Golden, it’s so we can all pay more* for tariff-protected lumber and other things made in his district, financially supporting the relevant producers there:
Most Democrats are unlikely to go along with that argument. But Golden has pointed to industries in his state, including lumber, that he said would benefit from tariffs that shield domestic production. Wall Street firms and economists in Washington, he said, are out of step with what the country wants.
After an election in which grocery and housing prices sat atop American voters’ list of economic concerns, I’m pretty sure “the country” doesn’t want food poverty—and “American fish” during the Super Bowl?—so Rep. Golden’s cronies can charge us more for lumber.
But maybe that’s just me.
*See, e.g., this recent Cato analysis of how US tariffs increase construction materials’ prices.