Brandon Bell/Getty, Tyler Le/BI
- Trump's tariffs have led some companies to announce that they plan to raise prices.
- Even before his so-called "Liberation Day," companies warned they would pass costs on to shoppers.
- BI is keeping track of companies that said they'd raise prices due to tariffs.
Prices are expected to go up this year as many companies signal plans to raise them in response to President Donald Trump's slew of tariffs.
While firms raise prices for many reasons, some were blaming price hikes on tariffs long before Trump's so-called "Liberation Day" on April 2, during which he announced a 10% baseline tariff on imports from most countries, except Canada and Mexico, and a host of "reciprocal" tariffs on top of that.
The situation is fluid. China, for example, now faces tariffs of 30%, down from 145%, after striking a trade deal with the US that does not restore the de minimis exemption. Autos are another area of focus after Trump announced a 25% tariff on all car imports into the US, though he's since exempted imports of cars and car parts from Mexico and Canada.
"April 2, 2025, will forever be remembered as the day American industry was reborn, the day America's destiny was reclaimed, and the day that we began to make America wealthy again," Trump said during his remarks.
Some economists have said that Trump's tariffs — and the uncertainty with his overall trade policy — could lead companies to raise prices on the goods they produce. Many companies have already indicated that price hikes are coming.
Toward the end of 2024, some companies began to warn that they would consider raising prices on consumers if Trump implemented his broad tariff proposals. While it's still possible they could absorb some of the costs of the tariffs, here are the companies that have warned of price increases in recent months.
Shein and Temu
The two Chinese retailers released almost identical notices on April 16, both reading: "Due to recent changes in global trade rules and tariffs, our operating expenses have gone up."
"To keep offering the products you love without compromising on quality, we will be making price adjustments starting April 25, 2025," Shein's statement said.
Shein, a fast-fashion retailer, and Temu, a marketplace for everything from home goods to electronics, promised their US customers eight final days of low-price shopping.
In addition to hiking tariffs on Chinese imports, Trump also cracked down on the de minimis trade loophole that allowed small parcels under $800 to enter the US tax-free. Shein and Temu were large beneficiaries of this loophole.
Ford
Bloomberg reported that the automaker plans to raise prices on new gas and electric cars starting in May unless Trump gives the industry some relief from tariffs.
Ford, in a memo to dealers viewed by Bloomberg, said that the company anticipates "the need to make vehicle pricing adjustments in the future, which is expected to happen with May production." Prices won't change for vehicles in inventory now.
On April 14, Trump told reporters that he was contemplating a temporary tariff exemption for autos to give manufacturers more time to move production to the US — but no blanket exemption has yet been instituted.
Conagra
Conagra Brands CEO Sean Connolly told Reuters on April 3 that the food company may have to hike prices to offset the cost of tariffs on ingredients like cocoa, olive oil, palm oil, and a type of steel used for its canned products.
Connolly said that Conagra, which makes products such as Hunt's ketchup and Chef Boyardee, imports tin plate steel for its canned food and tomatoes from Mexico.
It was too early to tell how big price hikes on the company's food products would be, he added. During an April 3 earnings call, he stressed that the trade situation remains "volatile" and changes hourly.
Volkswagen
According to a memo first reported by Automotive News, Volkswagen said it would place an import fee on vehicles made outside of the US in response to Trump's 25% tariff on car imports.
Kjell Gruner, Volkswagen's North America chief executive officer, recently said the carmaker would keep prices steady through the end of May but that they could increase in June.
Best Buy
Best Buy CEO Corie Barry said during the company's March earnings call that Trump's tariff plans are likely to increase prices.
"Trade is critically important to our business and industry. The consumer electronic supply chain is highly global, technical and complex," Barry said. "We expect our vendors across our entire assortment will pass along some level of tariff costs to retailers, making price increases for American consumers highly likely."
Target
Target CEO Brian Cornell told CNBC in a March interview that Trump's 25% tariff plan on goods from Mexico and Canada would likely result in price increases on produce.
"Those are categories where we'll try to protect pricing, but the consumer will likely see price increases over the next couple of days," Cornell said.
Stanley Black & Decker
Donald Allan, the CEO of the manufacturing company Stanley Black & Decker, said during a February earnings call: "Our approach to any tariff scenario will be to offset the impacts with a mix of supply chain and pricing actions, which might lag the formalization of tariffs by two to three months."
Allan had previously told analysts in an October earnings call that the company had been evaluating "a variety of different scenarios" to plan for new tariffs under Trump.
"And obviously, coming out of the gate, there would be price increases associated with tariffs that we put into the market," Allan said, adding that "there's usually some type of delay given the processes that our customers have around implementing price."
Walmart
On May 15, Walmart executives said price increases were likely to spike even higher, blaming Trump's ongoing trade war.
"Even at the reduced levels, the higher tariffs will result in higher prices," CEO Doug McMillon said during the company's first quarter earnings call.
US sales were boosted by shoppers looking to beat tariff-related price hikes — but despite strong first-quarter results, Walmart's chief financial officer, John David Rainey, said the extra costs are too great for the company to take on without passing part of the burden on to consumers.
"We're wired for everyday low prices, but the magnitude of these increases is more than any retailer can absorb," he said.
Columbia Sportswear
Tim Boyle, the CEO of Columbia Sportswear, told analysts on an October earnings call that the company was "very concerned about the imposition of tariffs. " He said that while he considered Columbia adept at managing tariffs, "trade wars are not good and not easy to win."
Boyle also told The Washington Post in October that the company was "set to raise prices."
"It's going to be very, very difficult to keep products affordable for Americans," he said. He later said in a February interview with CNBC that "we need some surety about what is going to happen" before making price changes.
AutoZone
Philip Daniele, the CEO of the auto-parts company AutoZone, told analysts on a September earnings call that tariff policies had "ebbed and flowed over the years," and if Trump implemented more tariffs, "we will pass those tariff costs back to the consumer."
"We generally raise prices ahead of that," Daniele said, adding that prices would gradually settle over time. "So, that's historically what we've done," he said.
A 25% tariff on car imports is expected to increase manufacturing costs by anywhere from $4,000 to $12,000.
Procter & Gamble
P&G, the consumer goods company behind brands like Tide and Charmin, is looking at raising prices on new and existing products.
CEO Jon Moeller told CNBC that price hikes are "likely."
"We will have to pull every lever we have in our arsenal to mitigate the impact of tariffs within our cost structure and P&L," P&G's CFO, Andre Schulten, said on a call with reporters.
The company is evaluating "exactly what is the right plan by brand, by market, what combination of pricing, over what period of time," Schulten added.
Ferrari
Italian luxury carmaker Ferrari said in March it'd raise prices by up to 10% on certain models imported to the US starting April 2.
The change was made "based on the preliminary information currently available regarding the introduction of import tariffs on EU cars into the USA," the company said.
Hermès
Eric du Halgouët, executive vice president of finance at the company, told analysts on a call in April that Hermès, the luxury retailer known for its iconic Birkin handbags, hadn't yet been impacted by the tariffs, but said the company would raise prices in the US in May.
"The price increase that we're going to implement will be just for the US. Since it's aimed at offsetting the increase in tariffs, that only applies to the American market," du Halgouët said on the call.
Nintendo
While Nintendo's highly anticipated Switch 2 console won't see a price hike over tariffs, Nintendo said accessories for the Switch 2 "will experience price adjustments from those announced on April 2 due to changes in market conditions."
"Other adjustments to the price of any Nintendo product are also possible in the future depending on market conditions," the company added in its announcement.
The company also delayed preorders for the Switch 2 in the wake of the tariffs.
How have prices affected you? Reach out to cboudreau@businessinsider.com.