The Trump Administration sent letters to over a dozen key sourcing countries this week, unilaterally imposing so-called “reciprocal” tariffs after failing to reach agreements with trading partners. However, rather than begin today as initially scheduled, the start date of the new tariffs was pushed back to August 1, giving industry brands and retailers more time to accelerate imports of Holiday season products and perhaps mitigate the expected pain of H2 price hikes.

While Trump vehemently denied there would be any additional forbearance past Aug. 1, the USTR’s inability to get deals done ... Log in to view full article.