The day Trump’s tariff threats became a reality for America Inc.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Target boss Brian Cornell and his team were walking through a New York City conference center Monday night when the news broke: President Trump was following through on his tariff threats. The retailer’s executives huddled sitting on sofas in a greenroom next to the stage where they would meet with their biggest investors on Tuesday.

They needed to review Target’s plans. The company had created a leadership task force a few months earlier—when Trump was victorious in the presidential election—to prepare for various trade scenarios. Now the executives knew more about what they were facing.

The U.S. imposed 25% tariffs on goods imported from Mexico and Canada, as well as an additional 10% tariff on Chinese imports on top of an extra 10% levy it placed on Chinese products last month. The tariffs will drive up the costs of fruits, smartphones and many more items that fill shelves at Target stores.

Target has already moved production of many of its nonfood store brand goods out of China. But Cornell said retailers would have to increase prices within days on fresh foods, such as avocados and other produce grown in Mexico and shipped quickly to the U.S. “Those price increases, if they stay in place," Cornell told investors Tuesday, they “would hit the consumer pretty quickly." Trump’s trade war reverberated through corner offices and conferences around the country on Tuesday, from Target’s meeting with Wall Street investors and a gathering of farmers in Denver to a conference of shipping executives in Los Angeles.

China, Canada and Mexico said they would respond with tariffs on U.S. exports, including on American soybeans, chicken and pork. America’s companies have been preparing for the