An employee, who did not want to be named, hangs up bags for sale at Luz de Luna, a gift store on 24th Street, in San Francisco, on March 5, 2025. Owner Denise Gonzales says about 70% of the products sold in her store are imported from Mexico. Amid a back-and-forth over tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada, many San Francisco small businesses that sell handmade goods, clothes, food and other items are rattled. (Gina Castro/KQED)
Updated 12:36 p.m. Thursday
Brightly colored Catrina and Lupita dolls, a mariachi band of skeleton figurines, and clay and wood calaveras and corazóns crowd the shelves at Luz de Luna on 24th Street in San Francisco.
The Mission District gift shop’s ceiling-length window displays are bursting with goodies for holidays, birthdays and special occasions — items that owner Denise Gonzales said many locals cherish but might not be able to afford if costs increase under President Trump’s newly announced federal tariffs. More than two-thirds of the store’s inventory is handmade and imported from Mexico, according to Gonzales.
“The items that we sell are not a necessity, they are not like bread and butter,” Gonzales told KQED. “This is a luxury or something that we buy once in a while, so if the prices are going to go up, people won’t be able to afford us anymore, [and] that makes me nervous.”
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As Trump announced a new 25% tariff on imports from Mexico on Monday, she worried that she would have to raise prices on the woven falsa blankets, fabrics from San Miguel, little girls’ dresses and traditional blouses, and Día de los Muertos artwork that customers rely on her shop for. Then on Thursday, Trump reversed course and suspended the tariffs. Most goods imported from Mexico, including those Gonzales carries, will get a month-long exemption — compounding the uncertainty for many businesses.
Whether customers will be able to weather higher prices if Trump does instate a tariff in April is a question Gonzales has been asking herself a lot.
Dolls for sale at Luz de Luna, a gift store on 24th Street in San Francisco, on March 5, 2025. (Gina Castro/KQED)
“I have clients that work in restaurants, and they have to [wear] a Mexican shirt,” Gonzales said. “They used to pay $40, are they going to pay $60? Can they afford that?”
Tariffs are paid by the importer bringing the goods into the U.S., not the country of origin, despite Trump’s assertions otherwise. Those higher costs are typically passed on to the consumer.
Gonzales is still navigating how, and when, she should adjust prices. Since she hadn’t placed any orders since the tariff was announced earlier this week, she didn’t want to raise costs preemptively or risk losing sales.
“I want items to keep selling,” she said. “I don’t want to just wait and add 25% because I haven’t paid that.”
But she knows that in the coming weeks, she’ll have to do so if the tariffs take effect since continuing to stock the store with authentic items is a priority that will cost her more.
Denise Gonzales, owner of Luz de Luna, a gift store on 24th Street, poses for a photo at the entrance of the store in San Francisco on March 5, 2025. (Gina Castro/KQED)
“Everything is handcrafted and made in Mexico and is work by the people. They live out of that money that they create,” she told KQED. “Too many times I see things on the internet, I see things much cheaper in other shops, but they are made somewhere else. They are not authentic, they are just copies.”
Karla Dubon Castillo, who owns Tienda de Unica down the street, said many of her customers come to get canned goods, vitamins and supplements from Mexico.
“When you buy these things, it feels [like] you’re connected to home, to your family, to what you left behind,” she told KQED in Spanish. Tienda de Unica, which translates to Unique Store, carries items from Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala. “It’s what allows you to live and feel like you are not so far away from home.”
She’s also worried about raising prices. Castillo said that since Trump took office, her store has already been quieter. She believes some community members are staying home, worried about increased immigration enforcement.
“We don’t sell as we used to sell. It’s slower, and the sales are very low, and that worries us because we have to pay bills,” she told KQED.
Products for sale at Luz de Luna, a gift store on 24th Street in San Francisco, on March 5, 2025. (Gina Castro/KQED)
After a month-long delay following widespread pushback from Democrats and economic leaders, Trump levied new 25% tariffs on goods imported from Mexico and Canada under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act on Monday, saying that the flow of fentanyl and other drugs from the countries “is a national emergency and public health crisis.” The administration also imposed a 20% tariff on goods imported from China and a 10% tariff on Canadian energy products.
Days later, he signed executive orders on Thursday to give both Canada and Mexico a temporary exemption for goods that are traded under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which he signed during his first term to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement and covers most imports. The pause will last until April 2; Canada and Mexico can avoid the tariffs longer if they show they have made more progress curbing fentanyl trafficking, a senior administration official told reporters on a conference call ahead of the signing, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The back-and-forth about where tariffs stand has been confusing for business owners like Arturo Felix, who manages Casa Lucas Market in the Mission.
Fruit for sale at Casa Lucas Market on 24th Street in San Francisco on March 5, 2025. President Trump recently implemented a 25% additional tariff on products imported from Mexico. (Gina Castro/KQED)
“Today, I did talk to a couple of shippers, and they did start quoting me higher prices,” he said. “I didn’t even think about that, but right now I’m going back to it — I talked to these guys early in the morning — and they all did quote me like a few more dollars. It probably did hit. But this is like brand new stuff, so it’s all green, and it’s not ready to use yet.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom called the tariffs “taxes on American families” that would drive up costs on everyday items like groceries, which Felix said is a daunting thought for customers already seeing sky-high prices.
“Tomatoes recently got up to like $3 a pound’ it was so crazy, and demand did go down,” said Felix, whose father has owned the popular Mexican grocery store for more than 40 years. “When it does get too expensive, people will buy less.”
Customers streaming through the market on 24th and Florida streets Wednesday afternoon were buying avocados, mangoes, limes and oranges that Felix sources from Mexico for most of the year. A lot of tomatoes also come into California from British Columbia and Vancouver, he said.
Felix said sometimes Casa Lucas can absorb price hikes from shippers — as it did when tomato prices rose — but eventually, it becomes unsustainable not to raise the store’s prices.
He’s remaining hopeful that the tariffs won’t have a huge impact on essentials like food.
“I would think that that would probably affect more high-priced items,” he said. “Food items are cheaper than like a car.
“I hope that everything gets settled, because food does get imported a lot from Mexico. You’d be surprised how much stuff comes from there and Canada, too,” Felix said. “Hopefully, everything gets settled up, and we can just work together.”
