- The word "tariff" might be about to get scarcer in the retail world, a consumer researcher told BI.
- Walmart drew President Trump's ire after saying the company would hike prices due to tariffs.
- Neutral wordings like "sourcing costs" or "supply chain expenses" may become more common, the researcher said.
The "T-word" may soon go the way of DEI and ESG.
In the months since President Donald Trump began rolling out his shifting tariff policies, companies have been grappling with how to communicate the impact the policy will have on prices. But consumers may be hearing about that less.
Instead, phrases like "sourcing costs," "supply chain expenses" or "import costs" — accompanied with a detailed explanation of measures the company took to mitigate any price increase — will become code for "tariff" in earnings calls and other business meetings, said Denise Dahlhoff, director of marketing and communications research at The Conference Board, which advises companies on economic trends.
"As a business today, you have to think of it as a multi-stakeholder world," Dahlhoff told Business Insider. "There are your customers, your employees, your investors, the government, the president, the media, and your supplier community."
The tariffs are part of Trump's economic agenda to bring back offshored American manufacturing and incentivize companies to make goods domestically by making imports more costly.
Businesses large and small have said they see disclosing tariff costs as a means to retain consumer trust, but major companies that have been explicit about tariff costs or have been suspected of such plans are facing increasing political pressure, often from the president himself.
Walmart announced during an earnings call on May 15 that they would need to raise prices due to Trump's tariffs. In a post on Truth Social on May 17, Trump criticized Walmart for "blaming" his policies and demanded that the retailer "eat the tariffs," adding that he will "be watching" for price hikes.
Walmart did not immediately respond to a request for comments, but a spokesperson previous told BI that the company has always worked to keep prices "as low as possible."
This also wouldn't be the first time Trump took tariff price hikes personally. When it was reported that Amazon was considering displaying how much tariffs are contributing to the price of individual products, the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, called the idea a "hostile and political act." Amazon quickly denied ever planning to display tariff costs.
"Saying 'tariff' could be interpreted as a political statement because this country is politically very divided, so it is a very complex environment, and you want to avoid terms that might divide people or might not be universally liked," Dahlhoff said.
Retailers may avoid the issue altogether, and instead leave the consumers to do the math, Michael Baker, a senior analyst at D.A. Davidson, previously told BI.
"Retailers will have learned they need to be very careful — and it's very tricky — on how they articulate that so as to not wind up on a Truth Social post," Baker said. "That does add a layer of complication."
Dahlhoff said company leaders these days should also avoid words like DEI and ESG, which promote equity and environmentalism, but have become very politically charged after Trump threatened to cut federal funding from institutions that engage in these practices. Some businesses like Target have publicly rolled back DEI measures after Trump's inauguration, and promptly faced public boycott. The company changed the name of its DEI strategy to "Belonging at the Bullseye."
"If it was a tight rope businesses were walking before, now it's a thin string," Dahlhoff said.
Peter Cohan, an associate professor of management at Babson College and a venture capitalist, previously told BI that tariff awareness is extremely heightened among consumers, so they have a good understanding of the cause of price hikes at this point, regardless of what businesses call it.
"I do not think it's smart to cave," said Cohan of giving in to the President's demands. "If there isn't pushback, then it's appeasement, and companies changing their policies based on getting an angry call from the President will lose their ability to effectively manage their business."
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