At least twice in the last month, Connecticut grocery store chain owner Stew Leonard Jr. has appeared on national television to discuss how the Trump administration’s tariff policies were driving up the cost of essential goods.
Leonard Jr. operates Stew Leonard’s grocery stores in Connecticut, New Jersey and New York. He has already sent newsletters to shoppers informing them of how tariffs could increase prices in stores in the coming months.
President Donald Trump, who enacted the new taxes on imported goods, has said that retailers should “eat the tariffs.”
However, during an Aug. 6 appearance on the “Today Show,” Leonard Jr. said retailers would not be able to foot the bill for those new costs for long.
“I’m absorbing the cost [of tariffs],” Leonard Jr. said, but when asked if he would continue doing so? “No, I can’t afford to,” he added, noting he would disclose price hikes to his customers.
Trump has enacted tariffs of 15-50% depending on the country, which the “Today Show” said hits imported produce, seafood and other popular food products. Tariffs on packaging material like aluminum, steel and other metals are also rising, with beverages and canned foods among the products impacted.
In another interview on Bloomberg TV, Leonard seemed reluctant to agree when asked about Trump’s unfounded claims that prices were declining. He noted he is shifting some of his company’s purchasing priorities to avoid import costs.
“We’re already eating some of the margins, but I can’t eat it forever,” Leonard Jr. told Bloomberg on Aug. 7, comparing the impact of tariffs to the start of the COVID pandemic when the availability of goods was impacted by supply chain disruptions. “We’re hanging by our fingernails right now. We can’t do this forever,” he added.
The Connecticut Mirror this week reported that tariffs also helped contribute to the end of a planned battery-storage facility in Killingly. The combined effects of tariffs and the Trump administration cutting tax programs supporting renewable energy projects made construction unaffordable, according to the report. That means the planned $200 million project, which would have served as a storage facility delivering energy when demand on the electric grid increased, is no longer happening, removing 40 jobs from the Killingly community.
Meanwhile, the Connecticut Business and Industry Association published an article on tariffs from J.P. Morgan Private Bank. In addition to noting Connecticut’s top 10 importers were now facing tariff rates ranging from 10% to 35%, the report pointed to a weakening labor market and growing inflation nationally, leading to recommendations that businesses begin to cut investment costs and consider their market exposures.
