Companies have been forced to implement price hikes as businesses across the country are affected by Donald Trump’s sweeping import tariffs.
An analysis by The Wall Street Journal identified multiple instances of companies raising prices on items ranging from jeans to spices this year, after holding off as long as possible.
Many of these companies have had to increase their prices by high single-digit percentage points, well above the current inflation rate of 2.4 percent. The Adobe Digital Price Index found that online prices posted their largest monthly increase in more than a decade in January.
Companies upping their prices again after a price break will add more pressure on Trump, whose vow to lower the cost of food and everyday items immediately was considered crucial to his 2024 election victory. The 79-year-old has been recording dire approval ratings for months, with the president’s handling of the U.S. economy cited as a major concern for voters.
Columbia Sportswear cited Trump’s tariffs—which he wrongly insists are paid for by foreign countries rather than American consumers—as a reason it is now raising prices by a high single-digit percentage, having largely avoided such increases during the fall and winter.
“When combined with our other mitigation tactics, our goal in ’26 is to offset the dollar impact of high tariffs,” Chief Executive Tim Boyle said in an earnings call earlier this month, according to the Journal.
Levi Strauss & Co. had already raised prices on its iconic denim range in January in response to Trump’s tariffs and is now being forced to introduce further price hikes this month. Among the more startling price increases are ribcage straight-ankle women’s jeans, which jump an additional $10 to $108, while original-fit men’s jeans are $5 more at $84.50.
Spice maker McCormick & Company is another company forced to raise prices due to Trump’s tariffs. The company raised some prices in September and will increase others this month. McCormick & Co. also reported that tariff expenses added $70 million in gross costs in 2025 and will add another $70 million this year.
“Our pricing actions have been surgical,” Chief Executive Brendan Foley told analysts in February.
Structural Systems Repair Group, a Cincinnati-based construction company that maintains parking garages, stadiums, and other structures, is also expected to increase its prices by approximately 10–15 percent after tariffs pushed steel prices up by 10 percent last year.
Stanley Black & Decker’s chief financial officer, Patrick Hallinan, also told analysts earlier this month that the hardware company is looking into offering discounts on selected products, as the prices it was forced to introduce last year resulted in declining sales in the U.S., particularly for lower-priced products.
In a January press conference, Jerome Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve, suggested that Trump’s import levies would cause prices to rise yet again later this year.
“The expectation is that we will see the effects of tariffs flowing through goods prices, peaking, and then starting to come down,” Powell said. “That’s what we expect to see over the course of this year.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
