Retail industry leaders association

If the United States were to back out of the North American Free Trade Agreement, it would increase the cost of goods imported from Canada and Mexico by $5.3 billion a year and retailers would see their bottom lines drop by nearly $16 billion a year.That’s according to A.T. Kearney, a Chicago-based global consulting firm, in a new study prepared for the National Retail Federation, the Retail Industry Leaders Association and the Food Marketing Institute.The cost of the tariffs resulting from a U.S. withdrawal would most likely be passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices, the federation said in a statement.Food and beverages sold at grocery stores would account for most of the hit – $2.7 billion. Among other impacts: clothing and footwear, $501 million; electronics and appliances, $390 million; household goods, $498 million; and auto parts, $240 million.Talks between the United States, Canada and Mexico about the fate of the trade pact picked up again last week in … [Read more...] about U.S. exit from trade pact with Canada and Mexico would hurt consumers, new study finds

For Dollar Tree, talk of a trade war with China might feel a little like deja vu all over again. The Chesapeake-based discount retailer faced one before in 1995, when it braced for a tariff throwdown ahead of its initial public offering. In that case, the U.S. and China eventually came to an 11th-hour agreement.Now, it’s among more than 20 large retailers who signed a letter to the president organized by the Retail Industry Leaders Association last month, urging him not to add tariffs to Chinese imports.Amid the volley of traded threats between the two countries, Dollar Tree recently issued $4 billion in unsecured bonds to pay off its existing debt (a remnant of its pricey purchase of Family Dollar, of which it had already paid down $3 billion in three years) and lower its interest costs.In financial filings, the company has said it imports up to 42 percent of the items it sells, buying the rest, up to 60 percent, from U.S. suppliers. It’s warned shareholders in its annual … [Read more...] about Dollar Tree has seen these threatened trade wars with China before