As President Donald Trump’s promised tariffs on China, Mexico, and Canada become a reality, brands are anticipating that they will charge higher prices to pay for the trade war.
Public company CEOs are getting prodded for answers from investors about the impact of tariffs on their businesses.
ADWEEK pulled together recent earnings reports and news to see how executives are talking about tariffs. Their answers are presented alphabetically, by company.
Some of the quotes have been edited for brevity.
Abercrombie & Fitch: Robert Ball, svp and chief financial officer
Expecting a $5 million loss in revenue
During fiscal fourth-quarter earnings on March 5, Ball gave analysts an exact figure on the impact of tariffs.
“We expect full year operating margin in the range of 14% to 15%,” Ball said. “We expect the first half will be adversely impacted by higher year-over-year freight costs and more normalized carryover inventory selling, and the second half will benefit from expected lower freight than last year.
“For tariffs, our outlook includes U.S. tariffs on China, Canada, and Mexico currently in effect. We expect a 2025 impact of around $5 million. Our outlook does not include any other potential incremental tariffs.”
Adidas: Bjorn Gulden, CEO and member of the executive board
Goal to grow by double digits in the U.S. is under threat
Gulden warned about an impact to U.S. growth during its fiscal 2024 earnings.
“Our assumption is that we should grow double digits in the U.S. starting now and forever. I have to do a disclaimer though because we don’t know what these tariffs will cause in the whole market,” Gulden said during an earnings call.
“We believe that we should have the ambition to be No. 1 in all markets except for the U.S.
“Why not No. 1 in the U.S.? Well, we are so far behind and our competitors are strong…”
Best Buy: Corie Barry, CEO
Consumers will likely pay more for Apple and Samsung products
Only 2% to 3% of products that Best Buy directly imports comes from Mexico and Canada.
