Tariff Ticker: Costco Seeks Discounts from China Suppliers, Industry Appeals to USTR on Forthcoming Duties

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Weeks after President Donald Trump imposed new duties on China-made products, Costco is hitting up its suppliers for discounts.

According to a report from the Financial Times, two of the big-box stores’ mainland China manufacturers confirmed that it is seeking price cuts due to the added 20-percent tariff burden.

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The news comes after the wholesaler’s CEO, Ron Vachris, noted on an earnings call earlier this month that Costco would weigh the possibility of revising its supply chain if the duties significantly raise prices on imported products.

Vachris said “it is difficult to predict the impact of tariffs, but… our goal will be to minimize the impact of related cost increases to our members.” He also noted that only about one-third of Costco’s sales in the U.S. are goods coming from outside the country, and less than half of those items are sourced from China, Mexico or Canada.

That’s a different story from that of competing American retail giant Walmart, which said last month that 40 percent of its sales are generated through products like apparel, toys and electronics—many of which are sourced from China and countries that could be targeted with new duties, like India.

Wall Street analysts projected that the national chain’s revenue growth will slow to 4 percent in 2025 from 5 percent last fiscal year based on the tariff anxiety. This outlook prompted the retailer to reach out to its China-based suppliers and lobby for price cuts—a prospect Chinese officials rebuked. “Walmart’s demand for Chinese suppliers to bear the full tariff burden is unreasonable and disrupts fair competition and international trade order,” a post on a state-sponsored social media account read.

U.S. fashion industry trade groups, meanwhile, are eager to make their voices heard in an effort to stave off new duties before the administration’s self-imposed April 2 deadline. After receiving detailed reporting from Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on America’s trade deficits, the president has said he will make moves to address any inequities through “reciprocal” tariffs.

The administration solicited public comments on the matter through March 11. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) said it’s taking stock of those responses while it’s “reviewing and identifying any unfair trade practices by other countries,” with the goal of “recommending appropriate actions to remedy such practices and reporting to the President proposed remedies in pursuit of reciprocal trade relations.”