Companies race to get ahead of Trump tariffs

Chris Caton, managing director for global strategy and analytics at warehouse giant Prologis, said his firm had already seen an uptick in activity “on the margin” as businesses respond to possible tariffs by looking for space to stock up.

“There’s economic impact whether it’s bluster or not,” said economist Wendy Edelberg, director of the Hamilton Project and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

In the days after the election, footwear giant Steve Madden told investors that it was moving forward with plans to shift manufacturing outside of China, with the aim of cutting its imports from the country in half over the next year.

Tool and hardware maker Stanley Black & Decker also said it had initiated conversations with its customers about price hikes tied to the tariffs.

Executives at retail giants such as Walmart have discussed similar plans.

Even if Trump’s policies remain just talk, Ms Edelberg said the public could see higher prices, as well as possible shortages of some items, as hoarding left some firms scrambling.

Just the simple fact that firms were unsure about what was going to happen was also likely to reduce economic growth in the months ahead, she added.

“Even if firms don’t think that these tariffs are going to happen with 100% certainty, it’s not zero, so they should be responding,” Ms Edelberg said.