President Trump's imposition of *ad valorem* tariffs, doubling those on imported steel and aluminum, portends a marked inflationary pressure on the American grocery sector, given the ubiquitous presence of these metals in consumer product matrices; the ensuing 50% levy threatens to cascade across a broad spectrum of commodities. Usha Haley, a trade policy eminence, cautions that such tariffs risk not only exacerbating cost burdens across diverse industries but also straining transatlantic and other allied relationships, while Trump's recent protean tariff policies, ostensibly enacted to fortify the US steel industry, appear fundamentally at odds with his avowed commitment to ameliorating food costs for the electorate; the resultant increase in steel and aluminum expenses is projected to impinge upon an extensive array of consumer staples, from preserved comestibles to the alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverage sectors, as well as the pet food industry, prompting Robert Budway, president of the Can Manufacturers Institute, to presciently observe the potential for conferring a competitive advantage upon foreign canned food purveyors poised to strategically undercut domestic agricultural and food processing enterprises.