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Investing.com - Heightened U.S. tariffs are expected to dent the American operations of Uniqlo-owner Fast Retailing, the Japanese company told investors on Thursday, adding that it would likely need to raise prices to offset the impact.
This week, U.S. President Donald Trump has stepped up his aggressive tariff agenda, sending out letters to a range of countries threatening to impose increased levies if they fail to make a trade deal with Washington. Some of the nations targeted by the letters were from major apparel exporters, including Sri Lanka.
Trump also set a new August 1 tariff deadline for his sweeping "reciprocal" tariffs, a move that could effect most U.S. trading partners.
Speaking in a quarterly earnings call, Fast Retailing Financial Officer Takeshi Okazaki warned that a significant blow in the autumn and winter from the tariffs was "unavoidable," while the costs of the duties would be "difficult to absorb."
The executive also flagged that Fast Retailing’s "approach will be to raise prices where possible and not where it isn’t possible."
Still, for the current fiscal year that concludes at the end of August, Fast Retailing backed its 545 billion yen target, noting that the effect of the levies during the period will be more limited thanks to early shipments to the United States.
Many exporters moved quickly to lock in orders and shipments to the U.S. earlier this year in a bid to avoid Trump’s reciprocal tariffs. Fast Retailing said it had already sent a large number of items to the U.S.
Operating profit in the three months to May 31, meanwhile, edged up 1.4% to 146.7 billion yen, or around $1 billion, compared with LSEG estimates cited by Reuters of 153.8 billion yen. Along with the tariffs, Fast Retailing has been grappling with tepid consumer demand in China, a trend that has only further pushed the business to rely more on expanding its presence in North America and Europe.
Tokyo-listed shares in Fast Retailing inched down by 0.9% on Thursday.
(Reuters contributed reporting.)