The Secretary of Commerce and a Congresswoman just clashed over whether bananas can and should be grown in the US.
“There’s no uncertainty if you build in America and you produce your product in America, there will be no tariff,” Howard Lutnick told Rep. Madeleine Dean of Philadelphia during a House hearing on Thursday morning.
Dean was saying that for her constituents in suburban Philadelphia, Trump’s tariffs would cause at least a $2,000 a year price increase on goods. She specifically called out the price of bananas and said Walmart has already hiked the price of the fruit by 8%.
“We can’t produce bananas in America,” the Democratic congresswoman responded.
“The concept of building in America and paying no tariff is very, very clear,” Lutnick said.
“We cannot build bananas in America,” Dean repeated.
Large-scale banana farms are not viable in much of the US. However, bananas are grown in Hawaii and in parts of Florida, and can be grown in other parts of the Southern United States. In 2023, Hawaii produced 4.73 million pounds of the fruit, according to the Department of Agriculture.
Rep. Dean’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
The debate over bananas took place over a House hearing about trade deficits and the uncertainty Trump’s tariff plan has caused since its rollout in April.
Under Trump’s April 2 tariffs, a 10% baseline tariff applies to all goods imported into the US, including bananas. Though additional higher tariffs on trading partners are currently on pause for a limited time, some additional tariffs apply for products from China, as well as for imports of all steel and some other categories of metals.
Banana plants thrive in tropical regions with average temperatures of 80°F and a recommended relative humidity of 70 to 80%, according to EOS Data Analytics. The data company that provides crop monitoring services also wrote that farmers grow most bananas within a 30-degree range north and south of the equator.
According to figures from the American Farm Bureau Federation, in 2023, Guatemala supplied 40% of bananas consumed in the US by value, followed by Ecuador and Costa Rica, each contributing 16%.
Walmart and the Department of Commerce did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
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