Who pays for tariffs? Price of canned goods in U.S. could rise

In the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement that a 25-percent tariff will be placed on steel and aluminum imports to the United States, regardless of their country of origin, U.S. businesses and trade groups warned that the cost of canned goods would likely rise.

According to the Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI), a business group representing makers of cans in the U.S., about 70 percent of the steel used in the U.S. to make cans for food is imported, coming in from countries such as Germany, the Netherlands and Canada.

In 2018, during his first term, Trump imposed tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum imports, citing national security concerns. He later allowed certain trading partners, including Canada, Mexico and Brazil, to receive duty-free quotas. Many can-makers then won "exclusions" from those import taxes.

However, this time Trump has insisted that the tariffs would be enforced "without exceptions or exemptions."

Robert Budway, president of the CMI, said that without exemptions, prices for canned foods made in the U.S. are likely to rise.

"While the president may believe that these tariffs are protecting the steel industry, they certainly are undermining our food security and our supply resiliency for American canned food, which Americans rely on every day," Budway said.

Coca-Cola's chief executive, James Quincey, also warned the newly announced tariffs could push up the prices of canned food and drink.

"As it relates to our strategies around ensuring affordability and ensuring consumer demand, if one package suffers some increase in input costs, we continue to have other packaging offerings that will allow us to compete in the affordability space," Quincey has said.

The chief executive also said Coca-Cola may have to increase its use of plastic in the U.S. if the tariffs on aluminum take effect.

CNN also pointed out the tariffs on steel and aluminum are expected to negatively affect U.S. craft brewers by driving up the cost of critical materials used to brew, house and serve their beer.

The media outlet noted that according to early 2025 sales data from the Brewers Association, a trade organization for small and independent brewers, beer in aluminum cans accounted for approximately 75 percent of craft breweries' packaged volume and revenue in the United States.

According to the Brewers Association, a good number of those beer cans come from Canada. In terms of steel, Canada and Mexico account for nearly 40 percent of the total volume the U.S. imports, CNN reported.

The previous set of tariffs on aluminum cost the U.S. beverage industry $1.7 billion between 2018 and 2022, according to the Beer Institute, a U.S. industry trade group.

The Illinois Craft Brewers Guild, a U.S. nonprofit trade association that represents Illinois craft breweries, warned on X: "Our small brewery owners and customers will pay the price."