Home depot won’t raise prices because of tariffs

Prime Minister Donald Trump’s Imposition of New Wall Street Charges on the World’s Largest Home Improvement Chain Revisited

Home Depot does not see broad-based price increases for its customers going forward, said Billy Bastack, its merchandising chief, on Tuesday’s call.

The country’s largest home improvement chain weighed in during a call with investors about its earnings report, just days after Walmart drew President Trump’s ire with a warning that his sweeping import taxes are pushing the world’s largest retailer to increase its typically low prices.

Home Depot executives acknowledged their advantageous position in the retail world: The chain is massive, with tremendous power in the market. It already sources more than half of its items from the U.S. Unlike Walmart, it doesn’t sell food and has a higher average receipt.

Under the current temporary deal, tariffs on Chinese imports are up to 30% from 145%. The tariffs on imports have been increased to 10%. A fee is charged to U.S. companies when they take possession of their imported goods after foreign countries pay it.

Walmart and its suppliers are already absorbing some of the costs of tariffs, CEO Doug McMillon has said. Walmart can’t do that with the full amount because of the tariffs.

“But given the magnitude of the tariffs,” McMillon said, “we aren’t able to absorb all the pressure given the reality of narrow retail margins in retail.”

The Trump administration also previously accused Amazon of “hostile and political” moves after news reports suggested the retailer might display new tariff costs on its low-cost marketplace called Amazon Haul. Amazon didn’t have a plan after the phone call between Trump and Bezos.

Shortly after that, Trump threatened to put a 100% tariff on Barbie-maker Mattel after the company said it would raise prices on some toys due to tariffs. “He won’t sell one toy in the United States,” Trump said.

The Trade-Off Between Target and the Wall Street: Ted Decker and the Consumer in the U.S. Home Improvement Economy and Forecasts for Lowe’s and Target

Ted Decker told investors that they had a different use case for their expenditures in home improvement. “Our customer is in a good spot right now.”

The home improvement chain reported U.S. sales rising 0.2% and shopping transactions up 2.1% in the latest quarter, as people undertook more smaller-scale projects. Many people are delaying major renovations due to the U.S. housing slump and high mortgage rates.

But Decker still argued that the U.S. economy was “well past” the worst forecasts, including warnings of a possible recession, in part thanks to strong employment levels, steadier inflation and lower gas prices.

Lowe’s is predicted to address tariffs when it reports earnings on Wednesday. Target typically relies on more people buying clothes, cosmetics, and other non-necessities when they tighten their budgets, and this report from them is also on tap.

As retailers grapple with the costs of President Trump’s tariffs, they’re having to deal with two battles at once, one of them public, and one of them private.

Target CEO Brian Cornell told investors on an earnings call that they have many levers to use to mitigate the impact of tariffs. The other levers include negotiating with suppliers, changing up product selection, shifting where items come from and reshuffling the timing of orders.