H&M CEO says US tariffs will cost American consumers

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LONDON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump’s actions to raise import tariffs will drive prices up for American consumers, the CEO of fast-fashion retailer H&M said on Thursday, as the company shifts its supply chain to adapt to new trade barriers.

H&M’s biggest manufacturing hubs are China, which Trump has already hit with an extra 20% tariff on imports, and Bangladesh, one of the countries at risk of so-called “reciprocal” tariffs Trump plans to announce on April 2.

The U.S. is H&M’s second-biggest market by sales, and the retailer is likely to have to hike prices to mitigate the impact of tariffs.

“We feel at the end of the day, it will come at the cost of the consumer,” H&M CEO Daniel Erver told Reuters in an interview. “We are firm believers in global trade on fair and equal terms, and tariffs are not supporting global trade and global trade development.”

H&M is monitoring and preparing for tariffs, though these are a “moving target” given the uncertainty over which countries Trump’s announcement will target next week, Erver said.

“We are taking action on shifting production to markets that are less affected by tariffs where it’s possible and where we can get an equally good product,” he added, without specifying which countries.

(Reporting by Helen Reid. Editing by Jane Merriman)