We live in a highly globalised food system. If one tracks the food they consume in a day, they will find the items to be sourced from at least two or three countries. Our food basket is extremely multinational, though we might not be aware of it. More than a fifth of the food produced in the world is globally traded. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization says global food trade was worth US $2 trillion in 2023, four times the 2000 levels. In 2015, close to 80 per cent of the world population lived in net food-importing countries; the number would have gone up this year. Another study says that by 2050, half of the world population will consume calories produced outside their respective countries.
While food cultures have changed over the centuries due to trade and migration, they became truly global some 30 years ago when the World Trade Organization (WTO) was born, marking the start of a “free trade and fair tariff” regime. We now think “global” and eat “global”. Since food is a geography-specific commodity, countries export what they are naturally endowed to grow. On the other hand, nations that are not-so-well endowed to grow foods, import them to meet the domestic demand. WTO’s tariff and trade rules have somehow ensured easy movement of food produce.
So, what happens when an elected executive of a highly food import-dependent country—that also happens to be the world’s largest economy—decides to disrupt the trade system? On April 2, US President Donald Trump decided to celebrate “Liberation Day” by announcing tariffs for all nations that trade with his country. Since the start of his second term as US president on January 20, 2025, the country has imposed more global tariffs than it ever did in such a short duration. And Trump believes the move will make America a self-sufficient country, and create more jobs and revenue. That is his way of making America great “again”.
Is the US outside of the globalised food system? The answer is a big no. Rather, it has become a food importer over the decades. Currently, the US imports a fifth of its food supply. In 2025, the country is estimated to have a $42 billion agricultural trade deficit, which means it imports more food than it exports.
For 60 years until 2019, the US had maintained the agricultural trade balance. What happened after that? It is a simple case of Americans consuming more and more produce that is available round the year. These are also the products that the US has not been able to produce in abundance and at economical costs, because other countries are better suited to grow them. The US is, in fact, a beneficiary of the globalised food trade regime. Countries grow foods that are in demand in the US—mostly fruits, vegetables, alcoholic beverages, seafood and processed foods—for export, and the US buys them at affordable rates.
Take the example of Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast)—the world’s largest cocoa producer. Two-thirds of the West African country’s cocoa export goes to the US. Ivory Coast is geographically and climatologically suited to produce cocoa, with some 4.7 million hectares (ha) under the crop. The US, on the other hand, has less than 1,500 ha suitable for cocoa cultivation and can never produce enough to meet the domestic demand. Now, Trump has levied a 21 per cent tariff on products from Ivory Coast. The immediate impact of this will be a reduction in import of cocoa from Ivory Coast; or, the American consumer will have to buy it at a higher cost. There are many goods the US cannot farm that have been brought under the new tariffs. The US will soon endure impacts of the rupture it has inflicted on the globalised food system via tariffs.