Affordability has become the latest go-to buzzword for politicians across the ideological spectrum. Food has received special focus, with everyone from New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani<\/a> to President Donald Trump<\/a>\u00a0pledging to make mealtime cheap again. But despite all the rhetoric, both parties continue to push policies that spike the cost of groceries and meals.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a portion of the Trump administration’s tariffs, but the decision\u00a0did not<\/a> affect Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum. These metals still face a 50 percent tariff rate.<\/p>\n

The impact can be felt in grocery store aisles across the country.<\/p>\n

The steel tariffs\u00a0affect\u00a0what’s known as “tinplate steel,” which is the rolled steel used in the cans of\u00a0many types of food<\/a>, such as tomatoes, fruits and vegetables, and soups. The Consumer Brands Association warned<\/a>\u00a0that the tariffs could elevate the cost of canned foods by up to 15 percent. Only about\u00a030 percent<\/a>\u00a0of the demand for tinplate can be met domestically, which leaves canned food packagers with little choice but to absorb the higher costs\u2014before passing them along to consumers\u2014or to cut costs elsewhere through downsizing.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Del Monte Foods\u2014the popular purveyor of canned fruits and vegetables\u2014announced plans<\/a>\u00a0to shut down its long-operating plant in Modesto, California. The plant’s closure led to the loss of around 600 full-time and 900 seasonal jobs. While the steel tariffs weren’t the only factor in the plant’s closing, they appear to have been a\u00a0contributing cause<\/a>, as they also were in Del Monte’s\u00a0decision<\/a>\u00a0to declare bankruptcy in July of last year.<\/p>\n

Yet the political left has also pursued self-defeating policies when it comes to food affordability. For one, the Biden administration advanced its own plans<\/a>\u00a0to increase tariffs on tinplate steel in 2024, only to be\u00a0rejected<\/a> by the International Trade Commission (ITC). (Unlike the Biden-era version, the Trump tinplate tariffs were enacted under Sec. 232, where ITC sign-off<\/a>\u00a0is not needed).<\/p>\n

At the state and local level, left-leaning politicians continue to push a host of policies that raise the cost of food. In New York City, Mamdani continues to champion and\u00a0vigorously enforce<\/a> the city’s minimum wage on food delivery, which rose<\/a> to $22.13 on April 1. While the law initially only applied to app-based restaurant delivery, it was recently expanded<\/a>\u00a0to encompass grocery delivery as well.<\/p>\n

In early 2024, consumers paid a 58 percent increase in fees to delivery apps when compared to the same quarter a year prior\u2014before the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection began enforcing the minimum pay rate\u2014according to a report<\/a> from the New York City government.\u00a0In response to the wage’s extension to grocery delivery, Instacart instituted<\/a>\u00a0a $5.99 “regulatory response fee” to help offset the increased labor costs. Seattle, which enacted its own minimum wage for food delivery,\u00a0has seen<\/a> similar cost spikes.<\/p>\n

In the last few years, progressive cities like Washington, D.C., and Chicago have also repealed what’s known as the tipped-wage credit<\/a>, which is what allows restaurants to pay workers below the minimum wage as long as their tips make up the difference. Unsurprisingly, once the government mandated these workers receive the traditional minimum wage, food prices<\/a>\u00a0promptly\u00a0went up<\/a>\u00a0and restaurants started\u00a0adding<\/a> additional “service fees” onto customer tabs. Deep-blue states such as Illinois<\/a>,\u00a0New York<\/a>, and\u00a0Connecticut\u00a0<\/a>have considered bills to repeal the tip credit in recent years, too.<\/p>\n

The left has also continued to push menu labeling mandates\u2014requiring restaurants to flag which of their items are high-sodium or high-sugar\u2014which impose\u00a0additional costs<\/a>\u00a0on food joints. Beyond raising food prices, these policies don’t even succeed on their own terms. D.C. restaurant workers saw\u00a0compensation levels<\/a> fall after the tipped-wage repeal, while there continues to be little evidence<\/a>\u00a0that menu labeling requirements lead consumers to make healthier eating choices.<\/p>\n

But while each side has its own unique food-based follies, the effort to raise food costs is often a thoroughly bipartisan and cooperative affair. The infamous Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)\u2014which requires plant-based biofuels to be added into our gasoline supply\u2014is also a consistent cost-raiser<\/a>\u00a0for food.<\/p>\n

By creating increased artificial demand for corn and soybeans, the mandate increases the costs of these crops. The International Council on Clean Transportation has\u00a0estimated<\/a> that the RFS has led to a 12 percent cost increase for corn. Given that corn and soybeans are feeding staples for livestock such as cows, pigs, and chickens, the impact of this unseen tax on our food supply is far-reaching.<\/p>\n

In that vein, the EPA found the RFS could raise<\/a> topline food expenditures by up to $6.8 billion in 2023. Despite this, support for the mandate remains strongly bipartisan<\/a>, with growing calls to permanently increase the\u00a0percentage mix<\/a>\u00a0of plant-based biofuels added to gasoline.<\/p>\n

With policies like these, there appears to be little relief in sight. According to the Department of Agriculture, food prices are forecasted to\u00a0increase<\/a> by 3.6 percent in 2026, with both food-away-from-home and food-at-home prices scheduled to rise by more than their 20-year historical average rate.<\/p>\n

Preaching about high food costs makes for good political theater. But so far, affordability does not appear to be on the menu.<\/p>\n

The post The Bipartisan War on Cheap Food<\/a> appeared first on Reason.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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