4 Companies as Much as Tripling Prices Due to Tariffs
Written by
Nicole Spector
Edited by
Molly Sullivan
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Throughout his 2024 campaign, President Donald Trump promised that he would impose steep tariffs on other countries, and now, just a few months after he was sworn into office, the tariffs have been implemented, affecting imported goods from roughly 60 countries.
The blanket U.S. tariff rate is 10%, but some countries, like China, have been hit with a much higher rate. The average tariff rate for Chinese exports to the U.S. was 124.1% on April 12, according to an analysis conducted by the Peterson Institute for International Economics. That rate could increase. On April 25, the White House issued a statement that China now faces up to a 245% tariff on imports to the U.S. “as a result of its retaliatory actions.”
As a result of tariffs, many retailers are driving up prices on imported goods. Some are more than doubling prices on items sold to U.S. consumers. Let’s look at four popular companies dramatically upping prices to cope with tariffs.
Target
Last March, Target CEO Brian Cornell said that Target would likely raise prices on produce items imported from Mexico.
“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 told CNBC. “If there’s a 25% tariff, those prices will go up.”
Since this interview, the U.S. reversed tariffs for goods that qualify under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). Most Mexican goods that meet USMCA rules are not subject to tariffs, but non-compliant goods incur the 25% tariff. Several produce categories are exempt, but items such as leather goods and wood products are not.
Right now, we don’t know exactly where Target stands on price increases due to tariffs, but retailer analysts suggest there’s no getting around upping prices on goods that are subject to tariffs.
Best Buy
Best Buy execs have talked about just how much they rely on inventory from China and Mexico. Though exact price increases are yet to be known, it’s inevitable that the megaretailer will be cornered into price hikes on certain items
“The consumer electronics supply chain is highly global, technical, and complex,” Corie Barry, Best Buy’s CEO, said during Best Buy’s Q4 earnings call. “China and Mexico remain the No. 1 and No. 2 sources for products we sell, respectively. While Best Buy only directly imports 2% to 3% of our overall assortment, 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.”
Amazon
You can still find plenty of stuff on Amazon for the same price it was before tariffs hit. At the same time, a ton of items have gone up in price in response to tariffs. Many — about 25% — of price increases on Amazon of late have been imposed by sellers based in China, according to SmartScout data, as reported by CNBC.Price increases vary.
Shein
For years. U.S. shoppers have known Shein as an online shopping destination where you can find fast fashion, beauty products and more at ridiculously low prices. Not anymore. Shein, which was founded in China and is based in Singapore, has responded to tariffs with full force. The e-tailer has hiked prices for U.S. shoppers by as much as 377%, Bloomberg reported.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this article mentioned Temu’s price changes, but the company is not raising prices as the company stated: “Temu’s pricing for U.S. consumers remains unchanged as the platform transitions to a local fulfillment model. All sales in the U.S. are now handled by locally based sellers, with orders fulfilled from within the country.
Temu has been actively recruiting U.S. sellers to join the platform. The move is designed to help local merchants reach more customers and grow their businesses.
This shift is part of Temu’s ongoing adjustments to improve service levels.“
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