Trump’s trade war latest challenge for 97-year-old Asian market in Seattle
Seattle’s 97-year-old Asian grocer, Uwajimaya, expects customers to feel pinch as distributors pass on costs from Trump’s shifting tariffs
Uwajimaya, the Seattle-based Asian grocer, has navigated hardship before.
Not long after the family business opened its doors in 1928, it temporarily closed when founders Fujimatsu and Sadako Moriguchi and several of their children were incarcerated at a Japanese detention camp during World War II.
More recently, the Covid-19 pandemic strained the grocery industry’s supply chain, forcing Uwajimaya, among others, to raise prices.
Now, US President Donald Trump’s rapidly shifting approach to tariffs and trade deals is causing a wave of economic uncertainty for the store chain that is likely to leave its customers feeling the pinch. The levies are just one more factor affecting grocery prices.
With distributor and grocery margins where they are, it cannot all be absorbed by the distributors and the retailers,” said Uwajimaya’s president and CEO Denise Moriguchi. “For sure, it will be felt by everyone.”
Last month, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics tracked an uptick in inflation in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue area of Washington state, with regional costs jumping 2.7 per cent year over year. The upswing was partially attributed to tariffs.
However, news of potential price increases at Uwajimaya isn’t scaring off some of its loyal customers. Seattle resident Sara Louie, 29, said prices were skyrocketing across industries. “Everything is expensive anyways,” Louie said.