TA­RIFFS

next year, be­fore mi­ti­ga­tion ef­forts – and up to $150 mil­lion more if the U.S. fol­lows through on other pro­po­sed ta­riff moves. The com­pa­ny said it plans to raise prices in Ja­nua­ry to ad­just for ta­riffs im­po­sed this fall and has sought exemp­tions for some im­ports. “I want to make it ve­ry clear that it’s not a doom-and­gloom sto­ry right now, and we don’t ex­pect it to be in the fourth quar­ter, be­cause the bulk of the ta­riff in­creases real­ly don’t hit un­til Ja­nua­ry 1,” Chief Exe­cu­tive James Lo­ree told in­ves­tors in Oc­to­ber.

Some com­pa­nies said rai­sing prices, as ma­ny have done, takes time and isn’t al­ways pos­sible.

BorgWar­ner Inc., which sells parts pri­ma­ri­ly to car and truck ma­kers, said it ex­pects $20 mil­lion in ta­riff and in­fla­tion costs this year, but has ab­sor­bed all of it so far.

“We’ve not pas­sed any­thing through,” CEO Fré­dé­ric Lis­salde said. “Dis­cus­sions take time and are hap­pe­ning.”

Mo­hawk In­dus­tries Inc., which makes floo­ring and coun­ter­tops, said it has an­noun­ced price in­creases on its im­ports from Chi­na that co­ver both the ta­riffs and other ri­sing costs. The com­pa­ny al­so has re­vam­ped sup­ply chains. Still, Mo­hawk CEO Jef­frey Lor­ber­baum ur­ged pa­tience and said in the short term that hi­gher prices could drive cus­to­mers to buy other pro­ducts unaf­fec­ted by the ta­riffs. “It won’t hap­pen like a light switch,” Mr. Lor­ber­baum said.

Zoe­tis Inc., a ve­te­ri­na­ry phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal com­pa­ny, said it could re­coup lost sales to U.S. li­ve­stock pro­du­cers, which have seen de­mand from Chi­na slip due to ta­riffs, through ri­sing de­mand el­sew­here.

For­tune Brands Home & Se­cu­ri­ty Inc., which sells ca­bi­ne­try, doors and home-se­cu­ri­ty pro­ducts, said ta­riffs are ex­pec­ted to cost it $2 mil­lion to $3 mil­lion in the fourth quar­ter, and more in Ja­nua­ry if ta­riff rates in­crease.

Long term, it said, the le­vies may help the com­pa­ny as it re­lies more on pro­duc­tion and as­sem­bly in lo­ca­tions unaf­fec­ted by ta­riffs. It is mo­ving more door-com­ponent pro­duc­tion to a fa­ci­li­ty in Mexi­co, for example, exe­cu­tives said on a confe­rence call with ana­lysts in Oc­to­ber.

“Ta­riffs are not tri­vial, but they are ma­na­geable,” CEO Ch­ris­to­pher Klein said. “Once we ma­nage through the ini­tial im­pact, we ac­tual­ly see po­ten­tial up­side for us from the ta­riffs gi­ven our com­pe­ti­tive po­si­tions.”