Your Mapo Tofu Habit Is About to Get More Expensive
A 25 percent Trump tariff dubbed the ‘quarter pinch’ jacks up price of foods from China
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The trade war has come for Chinese restaurants.
There are more than 40,000 Chinese eateries in the U.S., compared with not quite 14,000 McDonald’s. That makes Chinese restaurants a colossal economic force: When they move together because of a change in taste, trend, or economic circumstance, it makes a difference.
For decades, they’ve been buying more food directly from China, ramping up bulk imports of garlic, water chestnuts, pickled radishes, mushrooms, baby corn, rice noodles, and other staples, part of a global boom in the food trade, which since 2000 has tripled to $3 trillion.
President Donald Trump has imposed tariffs up to 25 percent—a “quarter pinch,” Chinese restaurateurs call it — on those ingredients and more, forcing restaurants and their suppliers to scramble for alternatives around the world and raise menu prices.
President Donald Trump has imposed tariffs up to 25 percent—a “quarter pinch,” Chinese restaurateurs call it — on those ingredients and more, forcing restaurants and their suppliers to scramble for alternatives around the world and raise menu prices.
The U.S.-China trade deal signed last week by Trump won’t help much, even if Trump called it one “of the greatest trade deals ever made.” It’s more of a time-out than a peace treaty. The administration’s broad-based tax on some two-thirds of all Chinese imports — paid for by importers and consequently U.S. consumers — will remain in place as the administration tries to exact more concessions out of Beijing. China did agree to allow more imports of U.S. beef and poultry, and ramp up its purchase of agricultural products including wheat, corn, and soybeans from U.S. farmers, but only if “market conditions” warrant it — diplomatic jargon for “if the price is right.”
