ACCORDING TO LIZ - Clap-clap! As part of the president’s non-military offensive against its northern neighbor this summer, he threatened a 25% to 50% tariff on “toilet paper or face tissue stock.”
Yikes! Was there another Covid-style supply chain debacle in our future?
Hoarding and shortages are reciprocal and self-fulfilling. In 2020, the crise-de-toilet was primarily driven by people’s anxieties.
Individuals who experienced higher levels of anxiety and fear about the pandemic were more likely to stockpile toilet paper. This behavior was driven by a desire for control in an uncertain situation.
Despite perceptions of shortages, the supply chain for toilet paper actually remained strong. Back then, over 99% of tissue products were manufactured in the United States. And, as an essential service, those production facilities were fully operational during the pandemic.
Back then, the sudden spike in demand was due to panic buying which then led to temporary shortages. Most retail stores had limited storage so maintained minimal projected purchasing amounts in their inventory. They were quickly sold out as consumers overstocked.
And so many people quarantined at home sent the demand surging even further: households used about 40% more toilet paper than usual during the pandemic (although commercial demand dropped). But consumers wanted their usual wide variety of brands and textures and in portable, not industrial-sized, packaging.
Clap-clap! Fast-forward to 2026 when Jamison Greer, Trump’s trade negotiator, lied through his teeth claiming that “there’s no possible way” the trade dispute with Canada would affect US consumers. Obviously, he had not been listening very closely to American businesses dependent on raw products from Canada – including the TP industry – who were bemoaning that prices would have to rise.
Trump’s opening trade volley in the current war with Canada did include 50% tariff hikes on derrière delights essential to Americans and their politicians. And the pulp products from which they are manufactured.
The U.S. accounts for more than 20% of global tissue use despite having only 4% of the world’s population. The average American uses 141 rolls of toilet paper per year; MAGA scoring ahead of the pack for such uber-consumption.
Major retailers source many of their paper products from Canada, as do the American manufacturers. In 2025, United States imported over $2 billion in toilet paper and toilet paper makings; bum-wipe being the 215th most imported product out of 1,232 tracked in United States.
In 2025, almost half of those came from Canada.
And the American toilet tissue exports of over $200 million rely primarily on pulp product imports from north of the border. Those companies already have contractual obligations in place overseas, and their buyers are unlikely to be sympathetic to the consequences to the American consumer of ill-advised tariffs imposed by their increasingly addlepated president on bum wad.
Reams of which are flushed down the toilets across the nation daily. Not a product Americans want to reuse.
Phew!
Afraid of exacerbating another non-event and under pressure from Republican politicians afraid to face their constituents, Trump’s most recent spate of executive orders, all addressing the war on Canada, lifted tariffs on eight necessities for Americans including road salt, cement, and – ta-da! toilet paper.
Not only did too many American bums need wiping, Mainers whose town roads would need winter salting and state agencies with limited budgets cement to maintain bridges and sewage pipes, jumped on Susan Collins whose seat as senior senator from Maine is threatened.
And she must have called the White House.
A senior administration official did say the adjustments reflected “feedback from businesses” with no further elaboration… although it just might have to do with Republicans like Collins up for re-election with distraught constituents up their *ss.
Binge-buying of ordinary supplies has happened in past crises: WW2 rationing, during the 2008 financial meltdown, and as a result of the panic and shortages caused by the soaring oil prices of the 1970s. Two years ago, more localized, it was due to strikes at the east coast and Gulf ports.
Imagine going to the store for just one thing, whether food or printer ink or a roll of Charmin. And you see panic buying all around you. People fill their carts to the brim.
Why haven’t Americans learned anything about herd mentality and the dangers of fragile and extended supply chains from the Covid debacle?
It can take months to recalibrate today’s fine-tuned retail system when stocks are kept to a minimum to save on warehousing and insurances.
And, while they do, corporate America seizes the opportunity to keep prices high to please investors and justify exorbitant salaries and undeserved bonuses.
It is easy to see the demand for little pieces of flimsy paper may blow up again once consumers hear rumors of shortages. And the law of supply and demand will push exponential price increases that retailers will have to pass along sooner or later. Prices that will never come all the way down.
Media obsessiveness makes a simple aberration urgent whether or not there is an explanation of underlying causes – their obligation today is to keep drawing people’s eyeballs back to paid advertising to increase the price their masters can charge, not keep the consumer well-informed.
Social media deliberately evokes emotions that drive fantasies faster than facts and spin off even more crazed rumors, leading to more panic buying.
If Trump’s tit-for-tat trade wars with the rest of the world continue, Americans should prepare themselves for The Great Toilet Paper – or Avocado or Computer – Crisis of 2026/27.
All this would be fodder for a fantastic black comedy… like Trump offering to pay every American adult $5,000 apiece if Republicans stay in power. One trillion dollars when the country is already deeply in debt.
Clap-clap! The president may fantasize his Trump-a-palooza in Texas will inspire Republican voters but, in reality, it may flush all hopes for the party’s political future down the toilet.
Clap-clap!
(Liz Amsden is a former Angeleno now living in Vermont and a regular CityWatch contributor. She writes on issues she’s passionate about, including social justice, government accountability, and community empowerment. Liz brings a sharp, activist voice to her commentary and continues to engage with Los Angeles civic affairs from afar. She can be reached at [email protected].)
