On Valentine’s Day, millions of Americans express their affection with gifts. In 2021, Americans spent almost $22 billion on Valentine’s Day and this year, spending is expected to reach almost $26 billion. While inflation is affecting particular products like sugar and sweets, longstanding trade policy increases the prices of the most common Valentine’s Day gifts.

Here’s how the U.S. government makes typical Valentine’s Day gifts more expensive:

• Sweets are an easy gift idea. However, the U.S. government cartelizes sugar by implementing supply restrictions, including tariff-rate quotas, to purposefully raise the price of sugar. In fact, the U.S. sugar price is almost two times higher than the world price of sugar. Given sugar’s ubiquity, food products like that heart-shaped box of chocolates, are more expensive because of the U.S. sugar program. A recent study estimates that the direct cost of this program ranges between $44 and $50 a year for a family of four.
• Looking to buy a necklace? A gold necklace is subject to a 5 percent tariff, compared to a 13.5 percent tariff for a lower-end silver necklace valued at $1.50 or less. In fact, tariffs are systematically higher on lower-end types of goods compared to their higher-end counterparts. This means that on Valentine’s Day, those earning lower incomes who want to save money when gifting someone a special necklace are disproportionately taxed.
• Candles are a popular gift but candles imported from China are subject to “trade remedy” duties of over 108 percent. Companies in import-competing industries request these duties for protection from imports and Congress’s numerous amendments to trade remedy laws have made it increasingly easier for U.S. producers to win cases against foreign businesses. The result is higher consumer prices for Americans. The most egregious amendments provide broader discretion to the Department of Commerce when considering business data in a given case. For a more in-depth analysis of the problems with the numerous amendments made to anti-dumping/countervailing duty (AD/​CVD) laws; see here, here, here, here, here, and here.
• For those wanting something more… intimate, consider what Ed Gresser at the Progressive Policy Institute recently documented—tariffs on women’s undergarments are higher than on men’s. In fact, women’s clothes and footwear are generally subject to higher tariffs than men’s versions of the same items. Moreover, as with necklaces, underwear made from lower-quality materials are subject to higher tariffs than their higher-quality counterparts.

Fortunately, flowers highlight the benefits of free trade. Roses, the most popular flower purchased on Valentine’s Day, can now be easily and cheaply purchased. Until the 1980s, most roses sold in the United States were grown in California and a dozen roses cost around $150. Today, you can buy a dozen roses for $8.99. Thanks to trade liberalization, primarily through bilateral trade agreements, including the U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement, most roses are now imported. In 2022, the U.S. imported almost $810 million worth of roses; approximately 57 percent came from Colombia and 40 percent from Ecuador.

While it’s not as romantic of a story for candy, jewelry, candles, and underwear, flowers have a happy ending. Perhaps Cupid’s bow will hit Congress to woo voters with free-market principles and lower trade barriers.