A top Costco executive warned about the potential consequences President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs – It has been warned that this will increase the prices of all commodities.
“When it rains, it rains on everybody,” Gary Millerchip, chief financial officer of the $447 billion big-box retailer, told investors on an earnings call Thursday.
“Of course, tariffs increase costs. “It’s not something we generally see as positive.”
The CFO said it’s unclear what impact Trump’s planned tariffs will have on the “timing and scope of changes” at Costco and other retailers.
MillerChip’s comments were Reported by Fortune over the weekend.
Trump transition officials dismissed Millerchip’s concerns.
“President Trump has promised tariff policies that will protect American manufacturers and working men and women from the unfair practices of foreign companies and foreign markets,” Trump transition spokesman Brian Hughes told The Post on Monday.
“As he did in his first term, he will implement economic and trade policies to make our country’s life affordable and more prosperous.”
Trump has announced his plans to impose tariffs on imports from several countries after taking office on January 20 – including There is a plan to impose 25% levy On all goods entering the US from Mexico and Canada.
Canadian officials have also threatened to retaliate by banning imports of US-made alcohol Power was cut off to millions of American homes.
Trump said he wanted to impose an additional 10% tariff on all Chinese products in addition to the existing tariffs.
The tariffs would be implemented through executive order and would not require approval from Congress.
Trump has demanded that countries do more to crack down on the flow of undocumented immigrants into the US, as well as increasing incidents of drug trafficking, which have been attributed to an increase in fentanyl use among Americans. Is.
Trump transition team spokeswoman Carolyn Levitt said the tariffs against China that the then-president implemented in his first term “created jobs, spurred investment and resulted in no inflation.”
Leavitt told The Post, “President Trump is trying to fix and restore an economy that’s booming by restoring American jobs, reducing inflation, raising real wages, lowering taxes, cutting regulations and freeing up American energy. “We will work faster to do things that put American workers first.”
Costco beat first-quarter revenue and profit expectations on Thursday as its wholesale and discounted offerings, attracting budget-conscious U.S. shoppers, boosted early holiday season sales for the membership-only retailer. of.
The company’s shares, which are up 51% so far this year, rose about 2% in trading on Monday.
“The seasonal selloff appears to be very strong…people are doing very basic buying this year, but there are good trends,” Millerchip said.
Costco started pre-Black Friday sales in early November, this year in the first quarter ending November 24, to try to avoid the decline in sales from the end of Thanksgiving weekend, which extended into December.
It has offered products at deep discounts, like the LG UltraGear gaming monitor for $179, which is $70 less than its original price, and the JBL headphones for $69.99 with a 30% discount.
Bigger rival Walmart, which is also offering more discounts and promotions, raised its annual sales and profit estimates for the third time in November this year, indicating strong consumer spending.
Costco’s first-quarter revenue rose 7.5% to $62.15 billion, beating analysts’ estimates of $62.08 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.
with post wires
