For years, consumer advocates have opposed soda tax proposals in cities like Berkeley, Boulder, and Philadelphia, because such measures serve as a regressive tax on the poor, who tend to consume soft drinks at much higher rates.

Some of these efforts have proven successful, for example leading to the 2017 repeal of Chicago’s much-reviled soda tax and causing other cities to pause consideration of similar plans. These consumer advocates, however, may have finally met their match: not from public health advocates but instead from President Trump’s tariffs.

Recommended Stories

Have American politics stopped making economic sense?

Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs and America’s other tax problem

Tariffs threaten to undermine Trump’s tax reform gains