This spring, shoppers in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) started to notice tomatoes were hard to find. Residents said fewer tomatoes were showing up on store shelves, and the ones that were there cost more. At the Pharr port of entry, Roma tomato crossings fell nearly 45% as weather, tariffs, and transportation costs squeezed one of the region’s key produce trade lanes.
The availability and cost of tomatoes are one of several ways President Donald Trump’s trade policy has landed on South Texas this year, from produce warehouses to small storefronts. That sets up a question in the race for Texas’ 34th Congressional District, where Republican Eric Flores, Trump’s endorsed pick, is challenging incumbent Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez.
Flores has built his campaign around his closeness to the president, but has said little publicly about the tariffs impacting his would-be constituents.
The tomato duty comes from a July 2025 decision by the Trump administration’s Commerce Department to withdraw from a decades-old agreement with Mexico and impose an anti-dumping order—a special tax a government places on foreign imports when those goods are sold at a price lower than their fair market value. Mexican producers asked federal regulators to lift the order this year, but on June 30, the US International Trade Commission kept the 17% duty in place.
The US Department of Agriculture projects Mexican tomato production will fall 9% this year, which it expects to drive a 7% drop in exports to the US, citing the duty and a stronger Peso. Bad weather has also cut harvests. Much of that trade crosses at Valley bridges.
Building costs have climbed nationally too. Tariffs on imported metals drove up the price of steel, iron and copper wire nationwide early this year, according to the Associated Builders and Contractors.
Small businesses have also paid the price for tariffs. According to a Census data analysis by the advocacy group We Pay the Tariffs, Texas businesses paid at least $26 billion in presidentially imposed tariffs from March 2025 through Jan. 2026.
On Feb. 20, the US Supreme Court ruled Trump overstepped his authority by imposing tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a ruling that didn’t affect the tomato duty. Refunds for companies have been slow to arrive. By June 29, Customs and Border Protection had paid out about $71 billion in refunds, and importers were still owed roughly $100 billion.
But tariffs didn’t disappear with the ruling. The administration swapped in a temporary 10% global tariff, and when it expired in July, new duties of 10% to 12.5% on goods from 60 economies took effect.
Eric Flores’ ties to Trump
Flores, a former assistant US attorney and Texas Army National Guard captain, has not tied his campaign to trade policy. But he has tied it to Trump, and has not pushed back on any of the president’s policies making life harder for residents living in the RGV and Texas’ 34th district—from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents raiding construction sites in the Valley to the damage the Iran war has done to cattle ranchers in the region. He’s even praised Trump’s “courage” and “patriotism” for starting a war with Iran, despite the fact its caused gas prices to surge in South Texas.
Gonzalez, a McAllen Democrat who has represented the 34th District since 2023, in a statement about Trump’s tariffs to Courier Texas, blamed the president directly. “The President promised to lower costs on day one of his Administration. He lied, and these illegal tariffs, the war in Iran, and other extreme policies are forcing the average Texas household to pay an additional $3,000+ for housing, groceries, energy, and other daily goods and services,” he said..
“I will continue to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to hold this Administration accountable and lower costs for South Texas families, farmers and small businesses,” he continued.
Trump carried the district by about 8 points in 2024. Election Day is Nov. 3.
Flores’ campaign did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.
