The familiar ding of a text message pierced the haze of John’s post-night shift exhaustion. “Five strawberry spreads, five raspberry jams,” the message from his wife, Sarah, read. John sighed, dragging his beat-up sedan towards the local grocery store. He couldn’t fathom why they needed so much jam, but Sarah’s requests were rarely questioned.
Inside, the brightly lit aisles seemed to mock his weariness. He shuffled towards the jam section, only to find a chaotic scene. The shelves were nearly bare. Three lonely jars of St. Dalfour strawberry spread remained, and the space where Bonne Maman raspberry preserves should have been was a gaping void. He grabbed the remaining strawberry spreads, a frown creasing his forehead. What on earth is going on?
He arrived home, handing the strawberry spreads to Sarah, who was supervising the kids’ breakfast. His two children, Emily and Ben, were slathering jam onto their toast with abandon.
“You’re putting way too much jam on that,” Sarah chided Ben, gently scraping some off his toast.
“Your hat is lame, Dad!” Emily piped up, pointing at his well-worn Yankees cap.
John chuckled, a tired smile spreading across his face. “Lame? Where did you learn that word?” he asked Sarah.
“I didn’t teach them that,” she replied, her eyes narrowing slightly.
“More importantly,” John continued, “why is everyone buying up all the jam? There were only three strawberry spreads left, and no raspberry at all.”
Sarah shrugged, a hint of exasperation in her voice. “Ask everyone.”
John, still puzzled, pulled out his phone and began scrolling through news articles. Then, a headline caught his eye: “US-EU Trade Tensions: Jam Shortage?” The article explained the trade imbalance between the US and the EU, where European jams flooded the American market, while American jams faced steep tariffs entering Europe. Smucker’s, a major US producer, had been lobbying the Trump administration to impose reciprocal tariffs. The article speculated that a recent surge in consumer buying might be a reaction to perceived shortages due to potential tariff wars, and consumer fear of price increases.
“It’s the tariffs,” John mumbled, showing the article to Sarah. “People are stocking up because they’re worried about prices going up, or the jam disappearing altogether.”
Sarah read the article, her eyes widening. “So, this whole jam frenzy is because of some trade war?” she asked, incredulous. “Well, that explains why the shelves were empty.”
John nodded. “It’s like Smucker’s said in their letter to the White House. The high EU tariffs are making it impossible for US jam to compete over there, and now these retaliatory tariffs are messing with our own supply. It’s a mess.”
Ben, oblivious to the economic implications, simply asked, “Can I have more jam, Dad?”
All names of people and organizations appearing in this story are pseudonyms
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