Last week, major American companies like Hormel, Dollar General, and Best Buy disclosed in their earnings calls how much Donald Trump’s economic agenda is hurting their businesses and consumers. Top executives disclosed how Trump’s 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’s economy. 

Here’s what business executives told their investors during their Q2 2025 earnings calls: 

American business leaders told their investors that Trump’s erratic tariff policies are leading to price increases for American consumers. 

Dollar General CEO Todd Bezos: “While 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.”

Hormel Foods CFO Jacinth Smiley: “For 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’re assessing additional pricing actions. Our tariff estimate remains unchanged at a $01 to $02 EPS headwind for fiscal year twenty twenty five.”

Dick’s Sporting Goods Senior Director Of Investor Relations, Nate Gilch: “…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.” 

Best Buy CEO Corie Barry: “We had talked last time about the mitigation strategies that we’re 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’s 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.” 

Major American brands warned that the American consumer is struggling with high prices under Trump’s economy, making trade-offs for everyday goods. 

Bath & Body Works CEO Daniel Heath: “This 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.” 

Hormel Foods CEO John Gingo: “Obviously, 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? …In today’s 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.” 

Kohl’s Interim CEO Michael Bender: “We 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.”

Ulta Beauty CEO Keisha Steelman: “Our insight suggests consumers continue to prudently manage their day to day spending and are watchful of pricing trends in response to tariffs.”

Kohl’s CFO Jill Timm: “However, 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.”

Major business executives warned that Trump’s tariffs were negatively impacting their business outlook.

Hormel Foods President John Gingo: “Turning 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. … What we didn’t 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.”

Bath & Body Works CFO Eva Boratto: “For 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.” 

Victoria’s Secret CFO Scott Bakela: “Our 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.” 

Burlington CEO Michael O’Sullivan: “I 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.” 

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