In the paper, trinomial identities of associative algebras over an infinite field are considered (in general, the algebras may have no unit), i.e., identities of the form alpha m(1) + beta m(2) + gamma m(3) = 0, where alpha, beta, and gamma are scalars and m(1), m(2), and m(3) are different monomials. It is shown that any nontrivial identity if this kind implies a semigroup identity. The algebras with trinomial identities are characterized in the language of varieties.