After surviving a year mostly unscathed in President Donald Trump's trade war, retailers are finally sounding the alarm bell — and loudly.
Home Depot Inc. estimated Tuesday the hit to product costs could be $1 billion a year. J.C. Penney Co. said further escalation — especially if the latest proposals on apparel and shoes go into effect — would have a "meaningful impact." Department-store chain Kohl's Corp. partly blamed an 11 percent cut to its profit outlook on the U.S.'s recent move to raise tariffs on Chinese goods.
The Trump administration avoided most consumer products in the first rounds of tariffs on imports from China, America's largest trading partner. But that changed in recent weeks, with the administration bumping to 25 percent levies on $200 billion of goods including handbags and furniture, then initiating a separate process to tax another $300 billion, including clothing, shoes and electronics. Companies have been saying a move like that would end up raising prices for consumers, and now chains are telling investors that's exactly what they'll do.