New Delhi, May 11 -- AMERICANS ARE not famous for their love of vegetables. The staples of American cuisine are starchy, cheesy and heavy on meat. One vegetable, though, sneaks into everything: the tomato. Slices are tucked into burgers; canned ones become pizza sauce; further processing turns them into ketchup. Apart from the potato, of course, Americans eat more tomatoes than any other vegetable. Yet shoppers reaching for one at their grocery store may be experiencing a sense of deja vu. Tomato prices are almost 25% higher than they were a year ago. It is eggs all over again.

Tomato prices are rising partly for idiosyncratic reasons. Some 90% of America's imports of the vegetable come from Mexico. In the middle of 2025 President Donald...