Tariff grocery item: Chocolate

The Hershey Company, which is one of the biggest importers in the US of cocoa beans, says it sources its supply from Brazil, Coast, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Cameroon, Ivory, Ecuador, Ghana, Indonesia, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, and Peru.

Experts contacted Hershey, which makes Kit Kat bars, and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, among others, to ask about future price increases. A spokesman said the company couldn’t comment because it’s “in an earnings window.”

Nevertheless, the tariffs come on top of “serious increases in cocoa beans for probably the past two or three years because of the weather and the political climate.

Tariff grocery item: Maple syrup

Fun fact, folks: The US is the second-largest maple sugar and syrup exporter worldwide, second only to Canada. But, even though we may export over $33 million in maple sugar and syrup, we still buy $249 million worth of it from Canada.

That’s well over seven times the amount our country exports. Sadly, the price of real-deal maple syrup imported from our upstairs neighbors is being influenced by the 25% tariff.