C.R. mayor seeks exclusion for food, food ingredients from proposed tariffs

CEDAR RAPIDS — Cedar Rapids Mayor Tiffany O’Donnell is urging federal officials to exclude food and food ingredients from proposed tariffs.

In a March 10 letter to U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer, O’Donnell said the proposed tariffs would place local jobs at risk and destabilize the food supply.

“Disrupting this supply chain would jeopardize thousands of high-quality jobs in our community and destabilize the broader U.S. food industry, driving up food prices for American families,” O’Donnell wrote. “I recognize you are likely receiving many similar requests, and I believe you will see how your attention to this matter would align closely with President Trump’s priorities to protect American jobs, support domestic manufacturing and stabilize food prices.”

Cedar Rapids is a major player in cereal-manufacturing jobs, with more than 2,000 jobs and $500 million in wages generated annually. The sector contributes about $1.8 billion to the local economy.

In her letter, O’Donnell noted that breakfast cereal manufacturing makes up about 13 percent of the city’s total economic output.

The U.S. does not produce enough oats domestically to meet the demand, the mayor wrote.

In 2022, the U.S. produced only 58 million bushels of oats, while importing more than 84 million bushels.

Iowa produced only 3.2 million bushels, with the eight-county area around Cedar Rapids contributing .4 percent of the oats, the mayor said.

General Mills and Quaker Oats rely on Canadian imports for more than 90 percent of their oats, the mayor wrote in the letter.