Walmart Chief Merchandising Officer Steve Bratspies was “really proud” how his team mitigated the cost impact of the Lists 1, 2 and 3 Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods, he told a Barclays investor conference Sept. 4. List 4, which covers virtually all China-sourced goods not previously tariffed, “makes it tougher” to manage, Bratspies said. “There's no doubt about that.” With the previous three tariff rounds, “there were a few prices” that Walmart did have to raise, “but we didn't see any change in our unit projection of where we thought it would be, so that was absorbed,” he said. “We were very focused and targeted on how we did it. We didn't let any of our price gaps slip, and we maintained price leadership.” Though List 4 “gets tougher,” Walmart plans “the same approach that we took to List 3, which is we literally go through item by item,” Bratspies said. “That's what our buyers do.” There's “a whole bunch of different levers that a buyer can pull to understand how to manage that,” he said. The goal is to “offset as much as we possibly can either through negotiation or managing mix,” he said. Even if Walmart needs to raise prices as a “last resort” to maintain margins where they need to be, “we're going to run the Walmart model, which is we want to lead on price,” he said. Walmart last month slightly scaled back full-year expectations on consolidated net sales growth, factoring in the impact of the List 4 tariffs when they were still at 10 percent (see 1908150049).

FDAImports.com and Mesh Intelligence will work together to provide "a new service to help the world’s leading food organizations predict, manage and protect mission critical supplier networks to reduce risk of food recalls, supply chain disruptions and import delays," the companies said in a news release. Mesh Intelligence provides "predictive food safety and security analytics," it said. The joint offering will be called "Threat Intelligence," the companies said. "Mesh’s technology, coupled with the breadth of industry expertise FDAImports.com already offers, delivers insight into what is happening on their clients’ supplier networks on an ongoing and predicted basis, helping organizations monitor, assess, identify and manage the threats and vulnerabilities they face on a daily basis."

RH "expects no impact to Fiscal 2019 or Fiscal 2020 financial results from the tariffs imposed on current and new product categories imported from China effective September 1st, 2019, October 1st, 2019 and December 15th, 2019," the luxury furniture company said in an Aug. 29 news release. "The Company expects the impact from the increased tariffs will be offset by vendor price reductions and minor price increases," it said.

Movado Group downgraded its forecast in virtually all metrics for fiscal year 2020 ending Jan. 31, blaming market volatility it sees worsening with the 15 percent List 4A Section 301 tariffs taking effect Sept. 1 on fashion watches and smartwatches imported from China. It's “very early on in the process” to forecast with any precision the impact of the List 4A tariffs taking effect in a few days, CEO Efraim Grinberg said on a fiscal Q2 call. The tariffs will “definitely have an impact, I believe, on U.S. business,” he said. “We will take certain actions in terms of pricing initiatives, in terms of working with our suppliers,” to mitigate the fallout, he said. “Some will have an effect to gross profits.”

Two letters, one from American for Free Trade, and one from Footwear Distributors & Retailers of America, tell President Donald Trump that tariffs will be passed along to consumers, and ask him to change his mind. On Sept. 1, about $112 billion in goods from China will face an additional 15 percent tariff, and another $160 billion in imports will get the same increase on Dec. 15. Trump also said 25 percent tariffs on $200 billion worth of goods from China will go to 30 percent on Oct. 1, but no Federal Register notice has made that official yet.

Target remains “mindful of the volatility and uncertainty in the marketplace, including the timing and extent of additional China tariffs,” CEO Brian Cornell said on a Q2 earnings call Aug. 21. Noting that List 4 Section 301 tariffs at 10 percent are set to hit Sept. 1 on apparel, TVs, toys and home goods, Cornell said Target is following developments carefully: “We’re encouraged that many items originally slated for tariff increases in September have now been delayed until later in the year,” he said of the List 4B tariffs deferred until Dec. 15. As long as the trade situation with China “remains fluid,” he said, “it will present an additional layer of uncertainty and complexity as we plan our business.”

TV imports to the U.S. turned sharply more China-centric in the weeks after the Trump administration announced its proposed List 4 Section 301 tariffs on finished sets from China among the roughly $300 billion worth of goods not previously dutied, an analysis of Census Bureau trade statistics found. Observers will debate whether importers’ rush to beat the threatened tariffs played a role in the steep influx of China-sourced TVs arriving in the U.S. during June.

Though Walmart expects to finish 2019 toward the “upper end” of its previous guidance of between 2.5 percent and 3 percent same-store sales growth, it’s slightly scaling back full-year expectations on consolidated net sales growth, it said in a fiscal Q2 report Aug. 15. It was the first bellwether of possible retail impact from the 10 percent List 4 Section 301 tariffs taking effect Sept. 1, and again Dec. 15, on Chinese goods.

Goldman Sachs told clients that the U.S. trade war with China could lead firms to invest, hire or produce less, according to reports about the note, sent Aug. 11. Economists at the firm now estimate the tariffs will create a 0.6% drag on the economy, up from an earlier prediction of 0.2%, and are forecasting fourth-quarter GDP growth of 1.8%, down 20 basis points. They also expect the List 4 tariffs to go forward as announced, starting on Sept. 1.

The escalating trade rhetoric between the U.S. and China should make all companies “realize (if you have not already) that this is not a temporary dispute and is not likely to be resolved anytime soon,” customs lawyer Ted Murphy with Baker & McKenzie blogged on Aug. 9. “The two sides are doubling down and digging in.” With 2020 elections “inching closer” and China’s 70th birthday of the People's Republic festivities set for October, “the political considerations associated with these events make it less likely that a deal will be reached,” he said. “As a result, companies should be re-examining/re-adjusting their supply chains and pursuing additional Section 301 mitigation strategies,” while taking “a view to the medium/long term,” Murphy said.