- Costco CFO Gary Millerchip said during the retailer’s Thursday earnings call, "Tariffs raise costs—that's not something that we see as a positive in general." President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed tariff plan could increase duties 20% across the board and up to 60% for Chinese imports.
Costco is the latest retailer to share with investors its plans to combat the potential impact of high tariffs ahead of Donald Trump’s presidency. Gary Millerchip, chief financial officer of the membership-based big-box retailer, warned that increased taxes on imports, though only a hypothetical, could impact the costs of some of its products.
“Of course, tariffs raise costs,” Millerchip told investors in a Thursday earnings call. “So that's not something that we see as a positive in general.”
The CFO said it’s unclear the impact any tariff increases would have on the “timing and scope of changes” at Costco and other retailers. Quoting his predecessor Richard Galanti, Millerchip implied that any meaningful changes to how imports are taxed could impact the entire industry.
"When it rains, it rains on everybody,” he said.
Costco beat earning expectations for its fiscal first-quarter earnings, reporting a 7.5% growth in net sales and a 7.2% increase in membership card holders compared to a year ago, largely a result of its e-commerce business amid a renewed interest in spending as inflation simmers down.
Increasing tariffs has become a focal point of Trump’s economic policy proposals ahead of his second term. He pledged on the campaign train to raise the taxes by as much as 20% across all goods crossing the border into the U.S, while hiking up duties on imports from Mexico and Canada by up to 25% and by 60% from China. The push to raise tariffs comes from a desire to bolster American manufacturing muscle.
“President Trump has promised tariff policies that protect the American manufacturers and working men and women from the unfair practices of foreign companies and foreign markets,” Brian Hughes, a Trump-Vance transition team spokesperson, told Fortune in a statement. “As he did in his first term, he will implement economic and trade policies to make life affordable and more prosperous for our nation.”
But despite Trump touting the economic benefits of his plan, he’s shied away from promising the increased cost of goods won’t be passed down to consumers.
“I can’t guarantee anything,” he said in a NBC News “Meet the Press” interview last week. “I can’t guarantee tomorrow.”
Battening down the hatches
Millerchip’s statements on the impact of tariffs mirror that of other retail executives, who have in no uncertain terms said that Trump’s proposed tariffs—though the consequences are still unknown—would likely impact customers’ wallets.
Dollar Tree CEO Mike Creedon similarly warned of price hikes—or the disappearance of some items entirely—following increased tariffs. And last month, Walmart CFO John David Rainey cautioned that the discount retailer would potentially and reluctantly raise prices, should Trump’s proposed tariff plan go into effect.
“We never want to raise prices,” Rainey told CNBC. “Our model is everyday low prices. But there probably will be cases where prices will go up for consumers.
Should Trump impose strict tariffs, Costco is unlikely to be heavily affected, Millerchip said, because the company has minimized its imported goods to just a subset of its non-food products, which make about 25% of its inventory. Nevertheless, Millerchip outlined several ways Costco plans to address the impact of tariffs, including considering alternative sources for once-imported products, pulling some products from shelves, and bringing forward shipments of certain items.
Costco did not respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
Consumers are seemingly trying to be as proactive as retailers in preparing for price hikes. About one-third of consumers plan to spend more ahead of the holidays with the fear of increased tariffs during Trump’s term as their top motivator, according to a survey of about 800 Americans by CreditCards.com. Many of those Americans are amassing essentials like toilet paper, medical supplies, and non-perishable foods.
Shoppers engaged in similar stockpiling ahead of a looming port strike in September, which threatened to disrupt shipments to retailers. The consumer anxiety ended up boosting September sales for Costco, despite the retailer saying it was prepared to weather the impact of the strike.
“We faced tariffs in the past,” Millerchip said Thursday. “And we believe that our merchants and buyers are equipped, as anybody is, to sort of work through and navigate and manage that situation.”
