{"id":1055837,"date":"2025-09-03T14:14:45","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T18:14:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?p=1055837"},"modified":"2025-09-03T14:14:45","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T18:14:45","slug":"wtas-q2-earnings-reports-show-that-trumps-reckless-economic-agenda-is-causing-businesses-to-raise-prices-and-is-hurting-consumers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/wtas-q2-earnings-reports-show-that-trumps-reckless-economic-agenda-is-causing-businesses-to-raise-prices-and-is-hurting-consumers\/","title":{"rendered":"WTAS: Q2 Earnings Reports Show That Trump\u2019s Reckless Economic Agenda is Causing Businesses to Raise Prices and is Hurting Consumers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Last week, major American companies like Hormel, Dollar General, and Best Buy disclosed in their earnings calls how much Donald Trump\u2019s economic agenda is hurting their businesses and consumers. Top executives disclosed how Trump\u2019s tariffs and high inflation caused them to raise prices in the second quarter of the year, and indicated that consumers were struggling with higher and higher prices under Trump\u2019s economy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s what business executives told their investors during their Q2 2025 earnings calls: <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

American business leaders told their investors that Trump\u2019s erratic tariff policies are leading to price increases for American consumers. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dollar General CEO Todd Bezos<\/strong><\/a>: \u201cWhile the landscape remains dynamic, tariffs have begun to result in some price increases and we will continue to work to minimize them as much as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hormel Foods CFO Jacinth Smiley<\/strong><\/a>: \u201cFor profitability, we have announced inflation based pricing actions related to the third quarter markets, which we expect to partially benefit the fourth quarter and carry into the 2026. As the fourth quarter has begun, counter to our expectations, commodity markets have remained elevated across a variety of inputs. With that, we\u2019re assessing additional pricing actions. Our tariff estimate remains unchanged at a $01 to $02 EPS headwind for fiscal year twenty twenty five.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dick\u2019s Sporting Goods Senior Director Of Investor Relations, Nate Gilch<\/strong><\/a>: \u201c…Just to build on the tariff question as well as pricing, you know, we as you can imagine, we have seen some of the brand partners, you know, as we manage our business, they are managing theirs, and there is a little bit of an increase in prices that we have seen both on the vertical brand side as well as from the national brand partners.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best Buy CEO Corie Barry<\/strong><\/a>: \u201cWe had talked last time about the mitigation strategies that we\u2019re using in partnership with our vendors. Everything from manufacturing flexibility, cost negotiations, country diversification, assortment adjustments, and then ultimately only where absolutely necessary, adjusting price. And I think at this moment it\u2019s important to also remind you we only directly import 2 to 3% of what we sell. So that means as it relates to tariffs, some vendors are clearly communicating cost increases, some are adjusting promotions, some are planning to potentially increase prices with new product introductions, which always happens in our space. And some are just not increasing them at all, given these are very, very global supply chains. And so I think what we saw in Q2 is what we expected.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Major American brands warned that the American consumer is struggling with high prices under Trump\u2019s economy, making trade-offs for everyday goods. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bath & Body Works CEO Daniel Heath<\/strong><\/a>: <\/strong>\u201cThis quarter, our customers remain cautious and value seeking and we continue to see more intentional purchasing behavior. Consumers are prioritizing purchases that support personal well-being and convenience while spending selectively.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hormel Foods CEO John Gingo<\/strong><\/a>:<\/strong> \u201cObviously, we want to maintain and improve profitability, but we also have to balance two other variables. Anticipated consumer response, is critical. And so we know the consumer environment right now is challenging. The consumer is strained, for a variety of reasons. And then third variable is brand health and our support behind our brands to withstand pricing, right? \u2026In today\u2019s consumer landscape, there is a lot to be considered. Consumers are cautious yet resilient. They have shown a willingness to spend when products and experiences meet their needs, but rising costs are forcing consumers to make trade offs.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kohl\u2019s Interim CEO Michael Bender<\/strong><\/a>:<\/strong> \u201cWe also recognize that consumers continue to be pressured and are being choiceful with their purchases. Specifically, our lower to middle income customers remain the most challenged, while our higher income customers have proven to be more resilient. These lower to middle income customers continue to prioritize value and are trading down into lower opening price point products.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ulta Beauty CEO Keisha Steelman<\/strong><\/a>: <\/strong>\u201cOur insight suggests consumers continue to prudently manage their day to day spending and are watchful of pricing trends in response to tariffs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kohl\u2019s CFO Jill Timm<\/strong><\/a>: <\/strong>\u201cHowever, we continue to navigate macroeconomic uncertainty, including challenges related to global trade policy and the difficulty of forecasting its impact on consumer behavior. Additionally, our core customer remains under pressure, becoming increasingly selective with their spending. As a result, we are taking a prudent approach to our financial outlook for the remainder of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Major business executives warned that Trump\u2019s tariffs were negatively impacting their business outlook.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hormel Foods President John Gingo<\/strong><\/a>: \u201cTurning back to our performance overall in the third quarter. While our top line results were impressive, the bottom line results were disappointing. The commodity inflationary pressures we felt were significantly greater than anticipated. \u2026 What we didn\u2019t expect and what changed dramatically the first one, there are three things, but the first one is the most significant, which was the steep run up in commodity markets. And that has very much pressured our earnings. That run up in commodity markets was both sudden and it was major as it occurred across inputs that are major for our business.  That was sort of the first and biggest factor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bath & Body Works CFO Eva Boratto<\/strong><\/a>: <\/strong>\u201cFor the full year, we expect tariffs, net of mitigation efforts, to negatively impact gross profit by approximately $85,000,000 with $40,000,000 of that impact in Q3. As a reminder, we import approximately 10% of goods from China and 7% from Canada and Mexico.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Victoria\u2019s Secret CFO Scott Bakela<\/strong><\/a>:<\/strong> \u201cOur guidance for the full year 2025 now assumes net tariff impact of approximately $100,000,000 which reflects tariff mitigation of approximately 70,000,000. Our projected net tariff impact of $100,000,000 in 2025 is up $50,000,000 versus our assumption embedded in our previous guidance.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Burlington CEO Michael O\u2019Sullivan<\/strong><\/a>: <\/strong>\u201cI want to emphasize that the cost pressure from tariffs is real. We were only able to drive earnings in Q2 because we rapidly and aggressively took actions to offset that cost pressure.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

###<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week, major American companies like Hormel, Dollar General, and Best Buy disclosed in their earnings calls how much Donald Trump\u2019s economic agenda is hurting their businesses and consumers. Top executives disclosed how Trump\u2019s tariffs and high inflation caused them to raise prices in the second quarter of the year, and indicated that consumers were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":293,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1055837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWTAS: Q2 Earnings Reports Show That Trump\u2019s Reckless Economic Agenda is Causing Businesses to Raise Prices and is Hurting Consumers - Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/wtas-q2-earnings-reports-show-that-trumps-reckless-economic-agenda-is-causing-businesses-to-raise-prices-and-is-hurting-consumers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-03T18:14:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1101\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Shelby Reese\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Shelby Reese\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/wtas-q2-earnings-reports-show-that-trumps-reckless-economic-agenda-is-causing-businesses-to-raise-prices-and-is-hurting-consumers\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/wtas-q2-earnings-reports-show-that-trumps-reckless-economic-agenda-is-causing-businesses-to-raise-prices-and-is-hurting-consumers\/\",\"name\":\"WTAS: Q2 Earnings Reports Show That Trump\u2019s Reckless Economic Agenda is Causing Businesses to Raise Prices and is Hurting Consumers - 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