Trump’s Tariffs Inflict Pain on LA’s Asian Supermarkets
By Kelli Luu | 14 Apr, 2025

Trump tariff push to punish foreign trading partners is actually punishing American consumers who enjoy imported foods.

Trump’s new tariffs on imports from China, South Korea and Vietnam have caused price hikes for our favorite foods at Asian supermarkets. Rice paper, soy sauce and shrimp chips suddenly feel like luxury purchases, and receipts from our weekly visits to H-Mart and 99 Ranch are starting to look like they’re from Erwhon. 

Los Angeles has the second largest Asian American population in the United States.  When tariffs on Asian goods began rising earlier this month, Asian supermarkets that sell mostly imports from Asia have been struggling to keep their customers.  Iconic markets in cities like Monterey Park and Little Tokyo are seeing margins drop as they try to strike a difficult balance between raising prices, keeping loyal customers, swapping popular brands for domestic alternatives, and reducing inventory. 

Asian consumers in immigrant households must now pay 10-30% more on most staples.  A bag of jasmine rice may be $3 more now than a month ago.  The increases multiply quickly when you fill a shopping cart with Asian groceries. 

Asian families aren’t the only ones feeling the pinch.  A recent survey revealed that over 35% of shoppers at Asian grocery stores in Los Angeles aren’t of Asian descent.  They’re a multi-cultural cross-section of Asian food lovers and home cooks hopping on certain trends or looking to spice up dinner routines. 

Thanks to everything from trending recipes to Michelin-starred restaurants, Asian cuisine has become so pervasive that ingredients once considered “special” are now staples, many sold in mainstream stores like Costco.

The prominence of Asian foods means your local Galleria Market (which has a branch on Olympic and Western in Koreatown and one on Reseda in Northridge), for example, isn’t just an Asian supermarket but a culinary hotspot for LA’s millennials and Gen Z-ers.

These tariffs are having an adverse impact on entire communities.  A few large retail operations may leverage their bargaining power to keep prices down, but small independent grocers and specialty food shops, already struggling with thin margins, may not survive, creating visible vacuums in once-vibrant Asian neighborhoods.

At risk aren’t just our beloved foods but also the places that make neighborhoods feel like home.  The loss of flavors, comfort and identity could be irreversible, at least in the short term.  Whether you shop online at Weee! or in a Bangluck market, the loss of such shops would be a loss to Asian American life and culture. 

The next time you’re at your local Asian market picking up lo-mein noodles and xiao-long-bao or ghimbahp and kimchi, keep in mind that your purchases help support cultural institutions that need your support now more than ever.