r/Marijuana • u/Redman77312 • 1d ago

US News High just got higher: Trump tariffs to raise prices for US cannabis users

https://www.reuters.com/legahttps://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/high-just-got-higher-trump-tariffs-raise-prices-us-cannabis-users-2025-04-03/

"Most cannabis businesses don't have the margin flexibility to absorb a 10%-15% increase," said Mike Forenza, managing partner at AE Global, which makes packaging products for cannabis firms.

20 Upvotes

68% Upvoted

29 comments sorted by

23

u/Akeddia 1d ago

Pardon my ignorance, but how does tariffs raise prices for cannabis? I have pretty limited knowledge on that industry, but surely you can get everything you need within the country to run a weed farm/dispensary?

25

u/SpiralGray 1d ago

I had the same thought, but then I read the article.

Items such as tins, vape hardware and specialized glass remain difficult to source domestically, and companies remain largely dependent on Asia particularly China, analysts and executives said.

-2

u/Dabberz1 6h ago

No they're not hard to source they just don't wanna pay US prices and support other US businesses. They'd rather buy shit from China because its cheaper. That's the whole point of the taffafs. To make our country self sustainable so we don't need to rely on nasty communist countries like China. This will create more jobs for the US and eventually lead to the lowest prices of all time. But those people want to ruin everything because they get money from foreign countries to fund protests and spread propaganda.

1

u/Aggressive-Cod1820 5h ago

That will take years, if not decades. And a lot of money and investors. Good luck waiting for that to happen!

1

u/SpiralGray 2h ago

So... The US should at slave wages? You're a real sweetheart, aren't you?

8

u/MT_Promises 1d ago

Carts are certainly going to be affected. All the pieces and the carts themselves are probably all made/assembled in China and filled in America.

I'd imagine fertilizer companies' chemicals are probably made outside of America.

There's all kinds of small plastic tat that adds up. Baskets for hydro, bags, bins, packaging

Company cars for executives are often foriegn.

Travel for the bosses, when they go to Thailand and see how weed is sold there or maybe Ibeza to make business contacts and general weed trade shows.

5

u/sDeLo22 23h ago

Everything. We have been internationally trading with the world since world war 2, now donald dont want trading partners. So now us consumers will pay the extra and ppl like you will learn how the world economy works, growing weed , large amounts of weed, costs money already, add 10-15% onto that, and now the smoker will pay for it.

1

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2

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-4

u/ANT1G0LFB0YZ 1d ago

The article is claiming that supplies such as vape carts and different packaging supplies come from china so thats where the tariffs will come in.

While it might be true for some companies - and for any regular citizen as anybody can buy these things very cheap on aliexpress type sites - the company i work for in CO sources from a local company that not only creates the packaging but applies our branding to it as well. AFAIK they make vape carts and disposables in CO, maybe some things they use are sourced from china.

BS article imo but I guess we’ll see.

3

u/Colormebaddaf 15h ago

Bro. The entire industry buys carts from China. Companies I've worked with have had ENG/CHN bilingual purchasing staff.

90% of US-based major packaging firms use Chinese production. The only time I didn't have to wait 4 weeks on the water for packaging was when it's been airdropped from Mexico bc someone fucked up the compliance copy and the timeline accelerated.

The issue with your analysis is that you're applying one subjective experience to a massive external data set.

-2

u/ANT1G0LFB0YZ 15h ago

So to refute my one subjective experience, you provided your own subjective experience? Can both not be true at the same time?

I fully believe that your side is true, which is why i said in my first post “while it might be true for some companies”. I also know what i said to be true bc i literally deal with it atleast once a week….sooo whats your point?

I believe the issue with your analysis is that youre applying 1 subjective experience to a massive external data set :)

Also my point/belief is that long term it wont effect prices bc cannabis companies will be able to find affordable packaging supplies within the US, with my example being the company i currently work for which is already doing that.

1

u/Akeddia 1d ago

Ahhhhh i see, it wasn’t loading for me so I wasn’t sure

9

u/KPR_2002 1d ago

I just smoke flower. Hopefully, since I just get stuff that is grown in-state (California), it will avoid adding any extra cost since the taxes are already ridiculous.

7

u/Geedis2020 1d ago

There won’t be extra cost. Weed is grown in the US and there isn’t foreign competitors for it. This article is about things like glass, vapes, and papers.

9

u/kook440 1d ago

Tariffs are taxes passed on to consumers. Everything is gonna go up. Shipping alone is going up.

The markets are crashing. Who knows what these fuckheads are doing with weed not deregulation they already said. 🙄 Instead of giving me my choice, they want to rule. You vote Republican. This shit is what you get you're paying for jail, police training.

2

u/King_Artis 1d ago

So just of rip

packaging as whole will get more expensive, whether that's the cardboard, the bag, box, labels, plastic containers, glass, will be more expensive for many companies depending on where they get their shit.

Worked at a grow for a few years and a lot of our ship cam from overseas. Think we were getting boxes of like 2000 custom tubes for like... around $500(?, haven't worked there in 2yrs but i remember it being surprisingly cheap).

With tariffs packaging the product will definitely be higher.

Even regular supplies used in the grow will likely be much more expensive.

Given the current state of the weed industry, I wouldn't be surprised if your favorite local shop closes down because of tariff cost.

1

u/balki42069 1d ago

Ideally cannabis wouldn’t be packaged in plastic bags. People should bring glass jars to put cannabis into. That said, one could technically make all the bio-plastic you could need from local hemp production.

2

u/Laid-Back-Beach 1d ago

Look, paying more for cannabis due to a 10-15% increase in packaging costs is nothing when compared to what we are going to be paying for for vehicles, parts, tires, tools, and every type of appliance we can think of.

2

u/Pure_Literature2028 13h ago

This will also make it difficult to purchase dry herbal vaporizers and all the bits and pieces that you need to use them.

0

u/Longshadow2015 1d ago

Most (if not all) legal cannabis is grown in the country. I doubt the tariff on one ziplock Mylar bag will amount to much at all.

0

u/Dyerssorrow 19h ago

You know this for sure. Like are States gonna start tariffs with Federal. What am I missing here OP?

2

u/ShiniSenko 17h ago

The supplies growers and distribution use are going to go up. Glass, plastic, papers, filters, batteries, carts, containers, fertilizer, lights if they grow indoors, etc. They will pass those costs onto us, they can't absorb it.

-1

u/Dyerssorrow 17h ago

Most states just need to regulize a few things and we can just get in American made plastic sandwich bags...like we used to. I know wishful thinking on my part.

I didnt think about all those etsy looking jars and such..

2

u/ShiniSenko 16h ago

It's going to take a year minimum to have local companies start producing enough of the misc supplies that are needed, and those prices won't come back down when it does happen. Just like with covid.

2

u/Aggressive-Cod1820 4h ago

Yes, “bringing jobs back to America” would take years, if not decades. We’ll be a third world country by then, bc nobody else in the world will buy American. Why would they?