U.S. Companies Brace for Tariff Impacts

(Reuters) – Top executives at many U.S. companies are preparing for the impact from President-elect Donald Trump fulfilling his campaign promise of raising tariffs, a move that could disrupt supply chains and worsen inflationary pressures.

Company Commentary

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)

"…It doesn't make sense to invest a lot in Mexico if heavy tariffs are imposed on vehicles produced in the country," said CEO Elon Musk.

Dollar Tree

"We have long-standing contingency plans to diversify our supply chain in a timely and cost-effective manner. We also have the flexibility to adjust product specs and price points to address any changes in the market," said Chief Operating Officer Mike Creedon, who has now become the interim CEO.

Axon

"We've certainly lived in an environment of tariffs before. And so our philosophy is generally to be pretty flexible," said CFO Brittany Bagley.

KKR

"We spend most of our time here focusing on things that we can control. That's (tariffs) not one of them," said CFO Robert Lewin.

Zebra Technologies

"The team is actively working on mitigation plans for some of the new tariffs that are coming into place. And we continue to actively work with our supply chain partners," said CFO Nathan Winters.

Tapestry (NYSE:TPR)

"Tariff regime is changing over time. So, we're pretty well-versed in managing through this," said CFO Scott Roe.

IFF

"Those tariffs could actually intuitively be advantageous to our overall business broadly," said Chief Financial and Business Transformation Officer Glenn Richter.

Under Armour

"It will be interesting to see how things develop with whether we still have a split Congress or not," said CFO David Bergman.

Steven Madden

"We have been planning for a potential scenario in which we would have to move goods out of China more quickly. We've worked hard over a multi-year period to develop our factory base and our sourcing capability in alternative countries like Cambodia, Vietnam, Mexico, Brazil, et cetera," said CEO Edward Rosenfeld.

"You should expect to see the percentage of goods that we source from China to begin to come down more rapidly going forward."

Elf Beauty

"We certainly have run a number of scenarios for potential tariffs. It's still too early to tell what level those may come in, but we have a playbook and we have a number of levers at our disposal," said CFO Mandy Fields.

Source: Earnings calls