Hermès will shift the burden of Donald Trump’s tariffs on to shoppers in the form of higher US prices for its luxury goods, the French group said on Thursday, as it bets on the resilience of its wealthy consumers.
Chief financial officer Eric du Halgouët said the maker of coveted Birkin and Kelly bags “had compensated the gross effect” of a new 10 per cent levy on European imports by raising prices from May 1 in the US, as it reported quarterly results.
He added that Hermès would continue to do so “across the divisions of the business” in order to cope with changes in US trade policy, though he said the group was still calculating the exact level that prices would have to rise.