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Retail analysts and trade groups are warning President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed tariff policy could lead to higher prices for consumers.
Companies like Five Below, Crocs, Skechers, Amer Sports and American Eagle Outfitters could be forced to raise prices or take profit cuts because of their exposure to China.
The CEO of E.l.f. Beauty told CNBC it could raise prices under the proposed hikes, which are far higher than the tariffs Trump imposed during his first presidency.

Shoppers walk through the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City, a shopping mall in Arlington, Virginia, February 2, 2024.
Saul Loeb | Afp | Getty Images

For retailers and consumers finally feeling some relief from inflation, President-elect Donald Trump’s tariffs proposal introduces fresh uncertainty around how prices could change during his presidency, analysts said Wednesday.
Trump, who NBC News projects won a second term in a decisive victory, said during his presidential campaign that he would impose a 10% to 20% tariff on all imports, including tariffs as high as 60% to 100% for goods from China.

Companies, retail trade groups and industry analysts have warned the move could fuel higher prices on a wide range of Americans’ purchases such as sneakers and party supplies.
“The adoption of across-the-board tariffs on consumer goods and other non-strategic imports amounts to a tax on American families,” National Retail Federation CEO Matthew Shay said in a statement Wednesday. “It will drive inflation and price increases and will result in job losses.”
Earlier this week, the NRF released a study on the impact of Trump’s proposed tariff increases and said they would lead to “dramatic” double-digit-percentage price spikes in nearly all six retail categories that the trade group examines. Those categories are apparel, footwear, furniture, household appliances, travel goods, and toys.
The cost of clothing, for example, could rise between 12.5% and 20.6%, the analysis found.
The CEO of E.l.f. Beauty, which primarily relies on China to manufacture its beauty products, told CNBC in a Wednesday interview it could be forced to raise prices if the proposed tariff hikes take effect. 

“We do have pricing power. If we saw we needed to leverage pricing, we would,” said E.l.f. CEO Tarang Amin. “It will depend on what we see in terms of the tariffs. It depends on the magnitude of the tariffs.”
In a research note Wednesday, GlobalData managing director Neil Saunders said tariff hikes would “create an enormous headache” for retailers, which are likely to pass those costs on to consumers. The result is likely to be softer spending from already price-conscious shoppers.
“Despite Trump’s assertions to the contrary, tariffs are paid by the companies or entities importing goods and not by the countries themselves. This means the cost of buying products from overseas, whether directly or as an input for manufacturing, would rise sharply,” said Saunders. 
“Given the trade between Chinese manufacturers and US retailers, a strict tariff policy would mean retailers initially either taking a massive hit on profits or being forced to put up prices, which would fuel inflation and dampen retail volume growth,” he said.
Over time, supply chains would adjust to this change in tariff policy but it would be “incredibly disruptive” in the short term, said Saunders.
“The small hope is that the tough talk on tariffs is more of a negotiating ploy and that what is finally implemented will be relatively modest in scope,” he said.

Companies most exposed to tariff hikes

Whether a retailer will suffer from proposed tariff increases will vary based on where their goods come from and whether they have the pricing power and popularity to drive higher profit margins or raise prices.
In a Bank of America research note, retail analyst Lorraine Hutchinson said Five Below, Crocs, Skechers, Amer Sports and American Eagle Outfitters are at higher risk, because 20% or more of their goods are sourced from China. As a result, she downgraded her rating on Five Below stock from neutral to underperform, saying the company doesn’t have “the pricing power to mitigate hefty tariffs.”
On the other hand, companies like Bath & Body Works — which sources about 85% of its products from North America — would be less vulnerable, Hutchinson said.
She said Trump-backed corporate tax cuts could benefit retailers, but high tariffs would outweigh those tax savings.
Deep discounters, such as Dollar Tree, are also exposed because their fixed-price-point business model makes it difficult to pass on higher prices to customers, said Peter Keith, a senior research analyst at Piper Sandler. The store, which sells discretionary items like toys and party hats, imports many of its items from China and has set prices of $1.25. That means the company needs to either absorb higher costs or shake up its price point model altogether, he said.
Bank of America also downgraded Yeti Holdings from buy to neutral because of its high exposure to China. However, unlike Dollar Tree, its fan following and higher profit margin may give it enough cushion to absorb cost increases or raise prices.
Yeti’s 20-ounce tumblers typically cost $35, but the company has an approximately 60% margin on the item, Piper Sandler’s Keith noted.
Plus, Yeti and other companies have already been working to diversify their supply chains and move manufacturing outside of China so they’re less reliant on the region and its risks. By the end of 2025, Yeti has pledged to move about half of its production to regions outside of China.
E.l.f. has taken a similar approach, said CEO Amin. 
“Back in 2019 when 25% tariffs came in, almost 100% of our production was in China,” said Amin, referring to tariff hikes Trump imposed during his first presidency. “We’ve been diversifying, so we’ve got supply in other parts of Asia, in the U.S., in Europe. So less than 80% of our supply is out of China now, and I would expect it to be a little bit less going forward.” 
Part of E.l.f.’s value proposition is its ability to offer prestige products at a discount, but Amin said he’s not worried about consumers trading down if the company ends up raising prices. He pointed to its popular lip oil, priced at $8, and its closest equivalent: Dior’s Lip Glow Oil, which is priced at $40. 
“I even told our group, like, why did we price it at $8? We should have priced it at $10,” said Amin. “So maybe I’ll get my chance now, but we’ll see.” 

More sticker shock?

For consumers, tariffs could contribute to more sticker shock on a wide variety of purchases — from car repairs to toys — just as inflation cools. Some companies, including AutoZone, have already told investors that they will raise prices to cover the additional costs. 
“If we get tariffs, we will pass those tariff costs back to the consumer,” AutoZone CEO Philip Daniele said on an earnings call in late September. He said the company typically hikes prices ahead of tariffs going into effect.
Customers could also pay more for a six-pack of beer, a bottle of Scotch, or even a pack of Oreos, thanks to tariffs.
Analysts from equity research firm TD Cowen pointed to a few at-risk companies, including Constellation Brands, which makes its beers Corona Extra and Modelo Especial; liquor company Diageo, which imports tequila from Mexico and Scotch from Scotland; and Mondelez, which makes some of its cookies and snacks in Mexico.
Shoes for adults and kids would cost more, too, if Trump’s proposed tariffs go into effect, said Matt Priest, CEO of Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America, a trade group that counts Nike, Walmart and others as members.
About 99% of all footwear sold in the U.S. is made overseas, he said, and it would be difficult to move a meaningful chunk of that production back to the States, even if a cost penalty is tacked on.
“Count us skeptical that there’s a pathway for us to figure out how to make two and a half billion pairs of shoes in the U.S. every year,” he said.
“The rate of inflation is declining,” he said. “It would be counterproductive to then turn around and go back to pulling one of those inflationary levers, which would be additional tariffs, at a time when the consumer’s telling all of us, both politically on last night’s results, as well as from a consumer perspective: ‘We don’t want higher prices.'” More

Stellantis announced plans Wednesday to cut a manufacturing shift and indefinitely lay off roughly 1,100 workers at a Jeep plant in Ohio.
The company has been battling high inventory levels and lower earnings this year.
The Toledo South Assembly plant produces the Jeep Gladiator pickup truck.

A view of the Jeep Plant where United Auto Workers members are picketing on September 18, 2023 in Toledo, Ohio.
Sarah Rice | Getty Images

DETROIT — Automaker Stellantis announced plans Wednesday to cut a manufacturing shift and indefinitely lay off roughly 1,100 workers at a Jeep plant in Ohio.
The company, which has been battling high inventory levels and lower earnings this year, said the decision at its Toledo South Assembly Plant to cut production to one shift will better align output with demand of the Jeep Gladiator pickup — the factory’s sole product.

“As Stellantis navigates a transitional year, the focus is on realigning its U.S. operations to ensure a strong start to 2025, which includes taking the difficult but necessary action to reduce high inventory levels by managing production to meet sales,” Stellantis said in an emailed statement.
The layoffs will be effective as early as Jan. 5, according to Stellantis. The automaker announced the layoffs in conjunction with required notices to government agencies under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.
The United Auto Workers union, which represents Stellantis employees at the plant, did not immediately respond for comment.

In accordance with the company’s 2023 contract with the UAW, Stellantis said it will provide laid off employees with one year of supplemental unemployment benefits in combination with any eligible state unemployment benefits, equalling 74% of their pay, followed by one year of transition assistance. Health-care coverage also will continue for two years.    
Stellantis, including its Jeep brand, is attempting to execute a turnaround plan following a yearslong decline in U.S. sales. Jeep, a coveted brand in the automotive industry, has been in a U.S. sales rut that has included five years of annual sales declines, with 2024 on pace to potentially become the sixth.

The plan has included lowering pricing across its lineup, including on high-volume models such as the Jeep Compass and Grand Cherokee SUVs; rolling out special offers such as incentives or 0% financing; and increasing spending on marketing and advertising.
Jeep’s U.S. sales have plummeted 34% from an all-time high of more than 973,000 SUVs sold in 2018 to less than 643,000 units last year. While most auto brands increased sales last year, Jeep was off by about 6%. More

The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage surged 9 basis points Wednesday to 7.13%, according to Mortgage News Daily.
Housing stocks reacted in turn, with both the big public builders and building material companies falling sharply.
Lennar, D.R. Horton and PulteGroup were all down Wednesday. Retailers Home Depot and Lowe’s were also lower.

Homes in the south suburban Chicago area on April 26, 2023.
Brian Cassella | Tribune News Service | Getty Images

President-elect Donald Trump’s victory spurred a rise in in the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield. Mortgage rates, which loosely follow the benchmark yield, are also climbing.
The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage surged 9 basis points Wednesday to 7.13%, according to Mortgage News Daily. That is the highest rate since July 1 of this year, though not quite the surge some had expected.

“The expectation among bond traders coming into the election was that rates would move higher in the event of a Trump victory and especially a red sweep. While the latter is not yet clear, the former is enough for another bump to rates that have already risen abruptly with Trump’s victory odds,” said Matthew Graham, chief operating officer at Mortgage News Daily.
Housing stocks reacted in turn, with both the big public builders and building material companies falling sharply. Lennar, D.R. Horton and PulteGroup were all down more than 4% in midday trading Wednesday. Retailers Home Depot and Lowe’s also fell, more than 3% apiece.
“The builder stocks are highly sensitive to mortgage rates and mortgage rate expectations. Inflation expectations are higher now, which impacts long-term rates,” said John Burns, CEO of John Burns Real Estate Consulting.
While Trump did not lay out a detailed housing plan, he did talk about deregulation and opening federal land for more home construction.
The National Association of Home Builders congratulated the president-elect with a statement from its chairman, Carl Harris, saying, “NAHB looks forward to working with the incoming Trump administration and leaders in Congress from both parties to enact a pro-housing legislative and regulatory agenda that increases the nation’s housing supply and eases the nation’s affordability woes.”

Big builders have been buying down mortgage rates for their customers, but that has been cutting into their margins.
Mortgage rates hit a recent low of 6.11% on Sept. 11, but have been rising steadily since, despite the recent rate cut by the Federal Reserve. Mortgage rates don’t follow the Fed, but do react to the central bank’s thinking on the economy. Stronger-than-expected economic reports in September and October caused bond yields, and consequently mortgage rates, to move higher.
To put it in perspective for consumers, a homebuyer purchasing a $400,000 home with a 20% down payment on a 30-year fixed mortgage, would have had a monthly payment of $1,941 in early September. Today that payment would be $2,157, a difference of $216.
Sales of existing homes have seen an unusual surge this fall. Pending sales, which represent signed contracts, rose 7% in September compared with August, according to the National Association of Realtors. That was before rates surged significantly higher.
The sales increase is largely due to more supply. There were 29.2% more homes actively for sale in October compared with October 2023, reaching the highest level of active inventory since December 2019, according to Realtor.com.
“The path ahead is anyone’s guess and will ultimately be determined by inflation, the economy, and Treasury issuance,” Graham added.

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Planet Fitness wants to acquire bankrupt budget fitness chain Blink Holdings, according to court filings viewed by CNBC.
Planet Fitness previously lost out in a bankruptcy auction against U.K.-based, privately held fitness chain PureGym.
Equinox Group-owned gym chain Blink Fitness filed for bankruptcy protection in August after a failed attempt by the luxury fitness group to enter the budget-friendly market.

A Blink Fitness location in New York City.
Bill Tompkins | Michael Ochs Archives | Getty Images

Planet Fitness wants to acquire bankrupt budget fitness chain Blink Holdings, according to court filings viewed by CNBC.
Planet Fitness previously lost out in a bankruptcy auction against U.K.-based, privately held fitness chain PureGym. Now the U.S. chain, with a public market valuation of roughly $6.8 billion, is making another attempt.

Equinox Group-owned gym chain Blink Fitness filed for bankruptcy protection in August after a failed attempt by the luxury fitness group to enter the budget-friendly market. Since then, its more than 100 fitness centers have been tied up in bankruptcy court.
Last week, PureGym won the bankruptcy auction for Blink and its assets, including 60 of its gyms in New York and New Jersey, with a bid of $121 million, according to bankruptcy filings.
An acquisition of Blink locations would expand PureGym’s U.S. operations after the company first entered the market in 2021.
Planet Fitness’s initial bid was rejected in part because of concerns around antitrust considerations, people familiar with the matter told CNBC. Planet Fitness already owns a significant share of the fitness club market with more than 2,000 clubs in the U.S., according to estimates by Piper Sandler.
In making a subsequent play for Blink, Planet Fitness has submitted two offers, according to the filings.

One proposal offers $142 million for Blink’s assets, including a $28.4 million deposit, provided that Planet Fitness is not required to address antitrust concerns in advance.
A second proposal increases the offer to $155 million with a $31 million deposit and includes making select regulatory filings that address antitrust concerns in advance.
A Delaware bankruptcy court will hold a hearing Wednesday at 11 a.m. ET to consider the new bids.
Planet Fitness did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

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CVS Health reported mixed third-quarter results as higher medical costs squeezed its bottom line.
The company expects elevated medical costs to continue to pressure its performance this year, “and as a result we are not providing a formal outlook at this time,” a spokesperson said.
It’s CEO David Joyner’s first earnings report at the helm of the troubled retail drugstore chain. CVS named a new president for its health insurer, Aetna, effective immediately: Steve Nelson, the former CEO of UnitedHealthcare, a division of UnitedHealth Group.

A person walks by a CVS Pharmacy store in Manhattan, New York, on Nov. 15, 2021.
Andrew Kelly | Reuters

CVS Health on Wednesday reported mixed third-quarter results as higher medical costs squeezed its bottom line. The earnings report is CEO David Joyner’s first at the helm of the troubled retail drugstore chain. 
The company expects elevated medical costs to continue to pressure its performance this year, “and as a result we are not providing a formal outlook at this time,” a spokesperson told CNBC. CVS will provide commentary on what it expects “directionally” during its earnings call, the spokesperson said. 

“Establishing credibility and earning the trust of our investors is one of my top priorities as the new leader of CVS Health,” Joyner said in a statement. “To achieve that, any guidance we provide should be achievable, with clear opportunities for outperformance. This is a core principle for me.”
Wall Street’s confidence in CVS has soured this year after three straight quarters of full-year guidance cuts, prompting pressure from an activist investor to turn the business around.
Shares of the company are down nearly 27% for the year as higher medical costs in its health insurance unit, Aetna, eat into its profits, reflecting seniors who are returning to hospitals to undergo procedures they had delayed during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“While the entire industry has seen elevated utilization coming out of the pandemic, we have been more acutely impacted than others,” Joyner said. “Our immediate priority remains ensuring stability of the business.”
Also on Wednesday, CVS named a new president for Aetna, effective immediately: Steve Nelson, the former CEO of healthcare giant UnitedHealthcare, a division of UnitedHealth Group. Joyner and Nelson are tasked with convincing investors that CVS can get back on track and better manage the higher-than-expected costs.

Meanwhile, longtime company executive Prem Shah will take on a new, expanded role that oversees the company’s retail pharmacy, pharmacy benefits and health care delivery businesses, CVS said.
Shares of CVS rose nearly 6% in premarket trading Wednesday.
Here’s what CVS reported for the third quarter compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG: 

Earnings per share: $1.09 adjusted vs. $1.51 expected
Revenue: $95.43 billion vs. $92.75 billion expected 

On Oct. 18, when CVS announced Joyner had replaced former CEO Karen Lynch, the company also said it had conducted a strategic review that included layoffs, write-downs and the closure of 271 more retail stores. Those actions were in addition to a plan announced in August to cut $2 billion in expenses over the next several years, which includes cutting nearly 3,000 jobs, or less than 1% of its workforce.
CVS reported sales of $95.43 billion for the third quarter, up 6.3% from the same period a year ago due to growth in its pharmacy business and insurance unit. 
The company posted net income of $71 million, or 7 cents per share, for the third quarter. That compares with net income of $2.27 billion, or $1.75 per share, for the year-earlier period. 
Excluding certain items, such as amortization of intangible assets, restructuring charges and capital losses, adjusted earnings per share were $1.09 for the quarter. That’s consistent with the estimate the company provided last month.
Adjusted and unadjusted earnings also included a charge of 63 cents per share, or $1.1 billion, from so-called “premium deficiency reserves” in its insurance business related to anticipated losses in the fourth quarter of 2024. 
That refers to a liability that an insurer may need to cover if future premiums are not enough to pay for anticipated claims and expenses. Premium deficiency reserves “are effectively an acceleration of future losses, shifting the earnings cadence between” the third quarter and fourth quarter, a spokesperson told CNBC.
CVS expects those premium deficiency reserves “to be substantially released” during the fourth quarter, which will benefit results in that period. The spokesperson said CVS does not expect to book a premium deficiency reserve for 2025.
CVS also recorded restructuring charges of 93 cents per share, or $1.17 billion, in the third quarter. That includes $607 million for additional stores it plans to close in 2025 and $293 million related to layoffs. 

Pressure on insurance unit

CVS’s insurance business booked $33 billion in revenue during the quarter, up more than 25% from the third quarter of 2023. The division reported an adjusted operating loss of $924 million for the third quarter.
The insurance unit’s medical benefit ratio — a measure of total medical expenses paid relative to premiums collected — increased to 95.2% from 85.7% a year earlier. A lower ratio typically indicates that a company collected more in premiums than it paid out in benefits, resulting in higher profitability.
CVS’s health services segment generated $44.13 billion in revenue for the quarter, down nearly 6% compared with the same quarter in 2023. 
That unit includes Caremark, one of the nation’s largest pharmacy benefits managers. Caremark negotiates drug discounts with manufacturers on behalf of insurance plans and creates lists of medications — or formularies — that are covered by insurance and reimburses pharmacies for prescriptions.
CVS’s health services division processed 484.1 million pharmacy claims during the quarter, down from 579.6 million during the year-ago period. 
The company’s pharmacy and consumer wellness division booked $32.42 billion in sales for the third quarter, up more than 12% from the same period a year earlier. That unit dispenses prescriptions in CVS’s more than 9,000 retail pharmacies and provides other pharmacy services, such as vaccinations and diagnostic testing. 
The increase was partly driven by increased prescription volume, CVS said. Pharmacy reimbursement pressure, the launch of new generic drugs and lower front-store volume, including from decreased store count, weighed on the unit’s sales.
In a statement, Joyner said CVS’s share of the retail pharmacy market is at 27.3%, an all-time high. More

Donald Trump has said he will give Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a notorious vaccine skeptic and conspiracy theorist, a major health role if he wins the presidency.
Some health experts said elevating Kennedy, even in an informal Trump administration role, could potentially lead to severe consequences for patients, drugmakers and the nation’s public health overall. 
Experts said that could potentially look like lower vaccination rates, increases in preventable disease and greater distrust in federal health agencies.

Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump welcomes Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to the stage at a Turning Point Action campaign rally at the Gas South Arena on October 23, 2024 in Duluth, Georgia. 
Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Donald Trump has made one clear promise about who could help take up the government’s health reins if he wins the presidency: notorious vaccine skeptic and conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 
The former president said last week that Kennedy, who ended his own independent White House campaign earlier this year and endorsed Trump, will have a “big role” in health care in his administration. Last month, Trump said he would let Kennedy “go wild” on health, food and drug regulation.

Follow: Election 2024 live updates: Trump and Harris await Presidential election results

It’s unclear what exactly Kennedy’s role would look like, but the possibility is already raising alarm bells in the broader health community. Some health experts said elevating Kennedy, even in an informal Trump administration position, could potentially lead to severe consequences for patients, drugmakers and the nation’s public health overall. 
“I think it would be a world turned upside down,” Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine expert at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia who has been an open critic of Kennedy, told CNBC. “Things would not be grounded in scientific truth, just grounded in whatever he or his acolytes believe. It would be a free-for-all. It would be uncertainty and instability. It would be chaos.” 
He said “chaos” could potentially look like lower vaccination rates, increases in preventable disease and greater distrust in federal health agencies, such as the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 
That could exacerbate the nation’s existing public health challenges, such as declining childhood vaccination rates for several preventable diseases, some experts say. The U.S. also has the lowest life expectancy at birth, the highest rate of people with multiple chronic diseases, and the highest maternal and infant death rate among other high-income nations, according to a 2023 report by the Commonwealth Fund, an independent research group. 
Kennedy, who does not have any medical or scientific credentials, believes drug companies and the federal health agencies that regulate them are making Americans less healthy. He has suggested that some vaccines should be taken off the market — a stance that Trump did not rule out Monday. 

The former environmental lawyer may also bring uncertainty to the pharmaceutical industry, which relies on federal health agencies to greenlight new products, keep old ones on the market, and, in some cases, fund research and development. It will likely be difficult for Kennedy to change the drug approval process, but experts said he could gain a new platform to politicize certain treatments he opposes and tout others that aren’t proven to be safe and effective.
Top leadership roles, such as the FDA commissioner, require confirmation by the Senate, which some experts noted could pose a hurdle for Kennedy. But Kennedy has met with Trump transition officials and could take a broad White House “health czar” position that would not need Senate confirmation, The Washington Post reported Saturday. 
Regardless of what the position looks like, Kennedy will likely gain a “new podium to spread his views,” said Drew Altman, president and CEO of health policy organization KFF. 
“It’s giving one of the chief architects for health misinformation a national podium backed by the president,” Altman told CNBC. “Many more people will hear what he has to say, believe it and act on it. That could pose a risk to their health.”
Kennedy’s team did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

Vaccine rhetoric and uptake

A second Trump term could allow Kennedy to elevate anti-vaccine rhetoric, regardless of whether he holds a major role at a federal health agency.
Health experts said that could deter more Americans from receiving Covid shots and routine immunizations against various diseases that have for decades saved millions of lives and prevented crippling illnesses.
“By elevating his message, it normalizes people, parents, opting out of the vaccination schedule,” said Genevieve Kanter, associate professor of public policy at the University of Southern California. “I think we could reasonably predict that there would be a decline in vaccination rates among children, and perhaps vaccination overall.” 

Cynthia Blancas, 42, of Lynwood, receives a Covid-19 vaccine by pharmacist Deep Patel, right, at CVS in Huntington Park on August 28, 2024.
Christina House | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images

Real-world data from the CDC indicates that routine vaccination rates for kindergarten children ticked down during the pandemic and have yet to rebound. If Kennedy manages to push those rates even lower, vaccine-preventable diseases like polio and measles could potentially make a comeback, experts noted. 
For the companies that manufacture shots, an increase in anti-vaccine rhetoric could potentially translate to lower revenue. Drugmakers such as Pfizer and Moderna are still recovering from falling Covid vaccination rates in the U.S., which have dented their profits over the last two years. 
Kennedy may also affect the pharmaceutical industry’s ability to respond to another pandemic if given the power to determine how much federal funding should go toward vaccine development, some experts say. He told NBC News last year that he wouldn’t prioritize the research, manufacturing or distribution of shots if faced with another pandemic, falsely adding that “vaccines have probably caused more deaths than they’ve averted.”
Kennedy’s track record as a vaccine skeptic is extensive: He has long made misleading and false statements about the safety of shots, such as claiming that they are linked to autism despite numerous studies going back decades that debunk the association. Kennedy is the founder of the nonprofit Children’s Health Defense, the most well-funded anti-vaccine organization in the country. 
“He misinforms to the point that children suffer or die, and also stands back and doesn’t take any responsibility for it,” Offit said.
He pointed to Kennedy’s misinformation about the safety of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, which was linked to a severe measles outbreak in Samoa in 2019 that left dozens of children dead.

Regulatory process at the FDA, CDC 

It would likely be harder for Kennedy to change how vaccines and other treatments are approved, recommended and regulated — even in a leadership role at the FDA, CDC or the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees both agencies.
That could be good news for both patients and drugmakers. 

Signage is seen outside the U.S. Food and Drug Administration headquarters in White Oak, Maryland, Aug. 29, 2020.
Andrew Kelly | Reuters

“Approval processes are very well specified and run by civil servants,” USC’s Kanter said. ” I don’t see, in terms of the day-to-day product approvals, that he would have a ton of influence because that’s not the way the FDA is organized, and that’s not the role of an FDA commissioner. And so this process, I think we can trust to stay constant.” 
Recommendations for vaccine approval, use and coverage under certain federal health plans are made by advisory panels to the FDA and CDC, which are composed of outside public health and medical experts. The same applies to other treatments and medical devices. 
Kennedy could try to stack those committees with people who hold similar views on vaccination or other treatments to disrupt the “traditional regulatory oversight that protects us,” Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, told CNBC. 
But members of those panels have to undergo a rigorous nomination process. Many states that rely on advisory committee recommendations for vaccination schedules and mandates could also choose to ignore them if people sympathetic to Kennedy’s views join the panels. 

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Kennedy’s other proposals for overhauling federal health agencies will likely be difficult to execute. He has proposed cutting funding or headcount at the FDA, but those changes could have to come from Congress. 
Last week, Kennedy warned in a post on X that the “FDA’s war on public health is about to end” and hinted at plans to gut the agency of workers who don’t agree with his views. 
He accused the agency of its “aggressive suppression of psychedelics, peptides, stem cells, raw milk, hyperbaric therapies, chelating compounds, ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, vitamins, clean foods, sunshine, exercise, nutraceuticals and anything else that advances human health and can’t be patented by Pharma.”
Kennedy has previously claimed that hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin work against Covid, even though several studies say they do not. Hydroxychloroquine is an immunosuppressive drug, while ivermectin is used to treat infections caused by parasites.
“He has embraced a lot of therapies that have been unproven for certain uses and some have been discredited,” Kanter said. 

Chronic diseases

Both Kennedy and Trump have been vocal about tackling the root causes of chronic diseases rather than spending resources on treating those conditions with drugs from the pharmaceutical industry. There are few details on what that would look like and mean for drugmakers, but experts said Kennedy has pushed misleading claims about what factors drive chronic illnesses. 
The prevalence of chronic diseases, which last one year or more and require ongoing medical attention, is a real problem in the U.S. 
An increasing share of people in America are dealing with multiple chronic conditions, with roughly 42% having two or more, according to the CDC. More than 40% of school-aged children and adolescents have at least one. Chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity are also a major driver of health-care costs in the U.S., accounting for about 90% of the $4.1 trillion annual health-care expenditure, the CDC said. 
Kennedy could spearhead “Operation Warp Speed for childhood chronic disease” under a Trump administration, sources close to the former president’s campaign told NBC News last week. That refers to the title of the Covid vaccine development and distribution project during Trump’s first term. 
It’s unclear what the new program or Kennedy’s role would look like, but the focus on chronic illnesses aligns with his so-called Make America Healthy Again platform.
The initiative — a riff on Trump’s Make America Great Again slogan — aims to remove chemicals from food production, combat the “root” causes of chronic diseases and eliminate conflicts of interest in medical research, among other priorities that largely have bipartisan support. Environmental factors such as air pollution and diet contribute to chronic health conditions, but Kennedy has pushed unfounded claims around certain food ingredients and minerals. 
Last week, Kennedy also proposed advising all U.S. water systems to remove fluoride from drinking water, falsely claiming that it is “an industrial waste” linked to several medical conditions, such as thyroid disease and and neurodevelopmental disorders. Trump has since said that idea sounds “OK to me.”
But fluoride is a naturally occurring mineral found in soil, water and plants. Adding low levels of fluoride to drinking water is widely considered one of the greatest public health achievements of the 20th century for its role in preventing tooth decay. 
USC’s Kanter also said “there is a danger of oversimplifying complicated health problems” and attributing them to a few “root causes,” especially when they aren’t backed by science. Chronic diseases are complex conditions that can be caused by multiple factors, such as a patient’s genetics and socioeconomic status, according to Kanter. 
Kennedy’s nonprofit falsely links vaccines to chronic diseases, citing misleading articles and studies that show unvaccinated populations have fewer chronic conditions than their vaccinated peers. 

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When Huawei, the Chinese tech giant, releases its latest smartphone this month, techies will strip it down to figure out how it works. The semiconductors powering the Mate 70, as the device is called, will reveal how much progress China has made in building its own chips and breaking its reliance on foreign technology. But the software in the phone may prove more important than the hardware. Huawei is expected to install HarmonyOS NEXT, its new homemade operating system, on the devices. This would be China’s first clean break with the Western-backed systems on which it and the rest of the world rely. More

Restaurant Brands International reported quarterly earnings and revenue that fell short of Wall Street’s estimates.
The company’s four chains reported weaker-than-expected same-store sales in their home markets.
Canadian coffee chain Tim Hortons was the top performer of the quarter.

A new Burger King restaurant under construction in Tortosa, Spain, following the current expansion of Restaurant Brands International Inc. – the parent company of BK- in new and existing markets.
Joan Cros | NurPhoto | Getty Images

Restaurant Brands International on Tuesday reported quarterly earnings and revenue that missed analysts’ expectations as domestic same-store sales growth for all four of its chains fell short of Wall Street estimates.
Here’s what the company reported for the third quarter compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

Earnings per share: 93 cents adjusted vs. 95 cents expected
Revenue: $2.29 billion vs. $2.31 billion expected

The company’s worldwide same-store sales grew just 0.3% in the quarter. Burger King, Firehouse Subs and Popeyes all reported same-store sales declines in their home markets.
But so far in the fourth quarter, same-store sales trends have improved.
“October now is, for the whole business, positive, low-single digits of same-store sales, which is an improvement from what we saw in [the third quarter],” CEO Josh Kobza told CNBC.
He credited more successful marketing promotions and better consumer sentiment in the U.S. for the improvement in sales.
“If you look at some of the things that really drive finances for our guests, everything from gas prices are down, interest rates are starting to go down, inflation has really started to moderate a fair bit,” Kobza said.

Burger King’s same-store sales fell 0.7% during the three-month period that ended Sept. 30. Analysts had expected the metric to be flat, according to StreetAccount estimates. The chain is in the middle of a turnaround in the U.S., but consumers are also spending less at restaurants, reigniting the value wars between Burger King and its rivals.
Popeyes reported same-store sales declines of 4%, well off the expected 0.2% gain, according to StreetAccount estimates. The chain has tried to step up its value offerings recently, first with promotion of three-piece bone-in chicken for $5 and then with the reintroduction of its Big Box deal at $6. In June, Popeyes launched boneless wings as a permanent menu item for the first time in its history.
Firehouse Subs saw its same-store sales shrink 4.8% in the quarter, compared with an expected decline of 0.4%, according to StreetAccount. The sandwich chain is the latest addition to Restaurant Brands’ portfolio, as of 2021, and the smallest brand by footprint with just 1,300 locations as of the end of the third quarter.
Tim Hortons was the top performer, with domestic same-store sales growth of 2.3%. Tims has been growing traffic and improving its speed of service, Kobza said. But the Canadian coffee chain still fell short of Wall Street’s same-store sales growth expectations of 4.1%.
Outside of the U.S. and Canada, Restaurant Brands’ international same-store sales rose 1.8% in the quarter, just shy of estimates of 2.2%.
Restaurant Brands reported third-quarter net income attributable to common shareholders of $252 million, or 79 cents per share, unchanged from a year earlier.
Excluding items, the company earned 93 cents per share.
Net sales climbed 24.7% to $2.29 billion, largely thanks to the company’s acquisitions of its largest U.S. Burger King franchisee and its Popeyes business in China earlier this year.
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