Levi Strauss CEO says any price hikes related to tariffs will be ‘surgical’
FILE - A woman walks past a Levi's jeans store on April 7, 2025, in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
Levi Strauss & Co. CEO Michelle Gass said that any price hikes the company makes due to President Donald Trump's tariffs would be "surgical."
Gass, on an earnings call Monday, told analysts that the situation around tariffs is "very new" and "fluid" and that the company is just "getting our arms around it."
She stopped short of specifying what those price increases would look like, saying "as we look at pricing, we do believe that the brand, especially given the health of the brand, that there is pricing power there. But if we do anything, it will be very surgical," Gass said during the call.
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While aboard Air Force 1 Sunday, President Trump answered questions from reporters on tariffs and massive market sell-offs on Wall Street. He also addressed the latest on TikTok and previewed his scheduled meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who's slated to visit the White House on Monday.
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Gass took over the helm in 2024 as the struggling retailer announced a multiyear global productivity initiative to turn around the business and boost profitability.
Under the initiative, called Project Fuel, the retailer plans to optimize its operating model and structure, redesign business processes and identify opportunities to reduce costs while simplifying processes across the organization. It has since laid off dozens of workers out of its California office, and warned that more could come.
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With tariffs adding to its woes, Gass told analysts Monday that the company has assembled a task force to assess "the various scenarios and identifying what levers we have to mitigate," which could include "structural changes."
The company sources from 28 countries, 20 of which are imported into the U.S. However, Gass said the company's supply chain "is more agile today than it ever has been" and that it "pivots" all the time.
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"We will continue to do so as we look to address the issues both in the short, medium and long-term," Gass said.
Business executives have warned of the potential impact tariffs could have on the U.S. economy.
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said on Monday that the stock market could see declines deepen due to uncertainty over Trump's tariffs and that CEOs are telling him they think the U.S. economy is likely already in a recession.
Also on Monday, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon told shareholders that the levies are likely to "increase inflation" on both foreign and domestic goods, and raised concerns over what their impact will be on America's economic alliances.