National retailers warn of higher prices with reciprocal tariffs

The National Retail Federation (NRF) is warning that higher prices will soon hit Americans as President Trump signs off on reciprocal tariffs on foreign trading partners.

“While we support the president’s efforts to reduce trade barriers and imbalances, this scale of undertaking is massive and will be extremely disruptive to our supply chains,” David French, NRF's executive vice president of government relations, said in a statement.

“It will likely result in higher prices for hardworking American families and will erode household spending power,” he continued. “We encourage the president to seek coordination and collaboration with our trading partners and bring stability to our supply chains and family budgets.”

On Thursday, Trump signed a presidential memorandum proposing reciprocal tariffs that he said will crack down on tariffs that are unfair or discriminatory from both allies and adversaries abroad.

The tariffs would be customized for each country based on five different areas: tariffs the nation imposes on U.S. products, unfair taxes imposed, costs to American businesses and consumers from a different country’s policies, exchange rates, and other practices that the trade representative’s office deems unfair.

Trump signing the memorandum means his administration will begin a review process to allow the reciprocal tariffs to be set in place.

Under the memo, Commerce secretary nominee Howard Lutnick and U.S. trade representative nominee Jamieson Greer are instructed to consult with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and submit a report of tariffs they want to place on each country.

In NRF’s release, French noted that consumers are concerned about an economic war.

“The University of Michigan monthly consumer sentiment index continues to decline, suggesting consumers are alarmed about trade war uncertainty,” French said.

Several Democrats have criticized Trump’s tariff plan, arguing it’s going to increase everyday costs for Americans and plunge the U.S. into a trade war with its adversaries.

The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board slammed Trump, saying it “makes no sense” and calling the potential trade war the “dumbest in history.”

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