Wisconsin’s Asian Grocery Stores Warn of Shortages Amid Rising Tariffs on China
Like many Asian supermarkets across the country, New Asian Market in West Allis, a suburb of Milwaukee, is feeling the strain of steep tariffs on Chinese imports.
“We’ve had to stop ordering certain items because the prices have skyrocketed,” said Shen Xin Yu, who runs the store alongside his parents. “To stay profitable, we’ve had to raise prices even more—but eventually, it just doesn’t make sense to stock some of them.”
Yu explained that stocking decisions now revolve around affordability, which often means losing customer favorites.
“Just the other day, a customer asked for a specific brand of curry sauce we used to carry.
But we can’t get it anymore—the price is just too high,” he said. “Some customers drive half an hour just to buy certain products, and now I have to exp...