Food prices, namely produce items, are expected to go up in the coming days due to President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Mexican imports, Target CEO Brian Cornell said Tuesday.
Cornell told CNBC that Target “relies heavily on Mexican produce during the winter months, and the tariffs could force the company to raise prices on fruits and vegetables as soon as this week,” Gabrielle Fonrouge and Jacob Pramuk reported.
“Those are categories where we’ll try to protect pricing, but the consumer will likely see price increases over the next couple of days,” Cornell said in an interview with the outlet after Target released its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings.
“If there’s a 25% tariff, those prices will go up,” he added.
Produce like strawberries, avocados and bananas are especially susceptible to price hikes, Cornell said. At this time, it’s still too early to provide a complete list of items that may increase in cost, chief commercial officer Rick Gomez specified during an investor day. That’s because “teams are working through it in real time” and Target has to examine pricing holistically, CNBC reported.
Cornell’s warning comes in the wake of Trump’s tariffs on goods from Mexico, Canada and China, which officially went into effect on Tuesday. Trump imposed 25% taxes on Mexican and Canadian imports. He also doubled the tax on Chinese products from 10% to now 20%.
