FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 26, 2025
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Farmers and Business Owners Detail Price Increases Affecting Thanksgiving Dinner
Tariffs Cost US Announces New Holiday Ad Campaign
Ahead of Thanksgiving and the holiday season, farmers and business owners from across the country shared firsthand how tariffs are impacting their operations, raising costs, and hurting American families.
The Trump Administration’s across-the-board tariffs are raising prices for consumers, increasing costs, and forcing small businesses to make difficult choices about their future. Since April, the Administration has imposed across-the-board tariffs of 10%–50% on nearly all imports, with higher rates for dozens of countries and industries. The average tariff rate now tops 16.8%, the highest since 1935.
In addition to the added costs from the tariffs, the constant changes in tariff rates and trade policy is creating intense disruption and economic uncertainty for business owners across industries.
From left to right: Nick Levendofsky, President, Kansas Farmers Union; Mary Carroll Dodd, Owner, Red Scout Farm; Collin Tuthill, President, Royal Food
Recent Media Coverage:
- WUNC North Carolina Public Radio: NC farmers, food sellers warn that tariffs are spiking Thanksgiving dinner prices
Republished: WHQR
“When the price of everything it takes to grow vegetables goes up from soil to tools to fertilizer, packaging, transportation, then the vegetables on the holiday table goes up as well,” said Mary Carroll Dodd, Owner, Red Scout Farm. “Because of increases in our costs, mostly due to tariffs, we’ve had to raise the cost of some of our vegetables,”
“When you put tariffs on things, all that does is raise the price on the things that farmers need, and it lowers the price of the things that farmers sell,” said Nick Levendofsky, Executive Director of the Kansas Farmers Union.
- Supply Chain Brain: How Tariffs Are Straining Budgets at Thanksgiving
“When we talk about tariffs, we’re not talking about an abstract policy — we’re talking about real price increases on the foods that make up a traditional Thanksgiving dinner,” said Kansas Farmers Union executive director Nick Levendofsky during a November 25 webinar. “Every added cost in the supply chain eventually shows up at the checkout line.”
Republished: Yahoo, Pennsylvania Capital-Star
Collin Tuthill, president of one of the country’s largest canned and frozen food importers and distributors [Royal Food Import], said the current state of the U.S. food industry is “like we live in some kind of alternate universe.”
For his company, tariffs and rising costs have meant fewer items going to food banks, smaller portions in school cafeterias and lower quality products in hospitals and prisons. Tariffs or taxes on food make no sense, he said.
“We’re at a pretty sad state of affairs to see that we’re raising the price of food for the most in need,” Tuthill said. “We see it every day.”
New Holiday Ad Campaign:
Tariffs Cost US is launching a new holiday campaign focused on how the Trump Administration’s across-the-board tariffs are increasing the prices of food, gifts, and seasonal essentials for families and businesses during the busiest time of the year. The campaign will highlight how tariffs are driving up costs this holiday season and adding new stress to household budgets. The streaming television and digital campaign launched this week.
Ad Video: Holiday Shopping
Ad Examples:
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About Tariffs Cost US
Tariffs Cost US is a campaign dedicated to providing the public with reliable, comprehensive information about global trade and tariffs and their impact on both businesses and consumers. More information is available at tariffscostus.com.
