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CNN
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Businesses and economists warn that President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to impose tariffs on all U.S. imports will wreak havoc on supply chains and drive up prices for customers. But TJ Maxx believes Trump’s tariff plans will benefit the discount chain.

TJX, the parent company of TJ Maxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods, said Wednesday that the “chaos” that Trump’s tariffs could cause in retail is directly impacting its business model. Tariffs are taxes levied on imported goods to protect domestic manufacturers. Companies that import products pay the taxes and usually pass the additional costs on to customers in the form of higher prices.

Unlike most brands and retailers, TJX says it imports only a small, undisclosed percentage of its goods from factories abroad. Instead, TJX relies primarily on buying surplus designer brand goods directly from the brands, much of it after it has already been imported, and then selling it to customers at 20% to 60% below the regular price. TJX’s “opportunistic purchasing” strategy takes advantage of supply chain disruptions, canceled orders and overproduction. And if an item is already in the US, any duties would have already been paid by the first importer.

TJX expects Trump’s planned tariffs will create more opportunities to snap up designer goods as companies race to get products to market early to avoid tariffs. More goods than normal are expected to be imported into the U.S. for the rest of this year as retailers face a possible resurgence of the East Coast port strike as well as tariff increases, the National Retail Federation said earlier this month. Imports are forecast to rise 13.6% year-on-year in November and 6.1% in December.

“Manufacturers could introduce goods sooner,” TJX CEO Ernie Herrman said in a conference call with analysts on Wednesday after the company reported strong sales and profit growth in its latest quarter. “This could create even more product availability for us at advantageous prices.”

“That’s as likely a scenario as anything else,” he said.

That’s exactly what happened for TJX in 2019 when the Trump administration increased tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods to 25%. Herrman said at the time that the tariffs created “buying opportunities” for TJX.

This time, Trump has proposed a blanket 20% tariff on all U.S. imports and even higher tariffs of 60% on goods from China and other major trading partners. According to a study by the Peterson Institute for International Economics, this policy could cost the typical middle-income U.S. household more than $2,600 per year.

TJX’s message on the tariffs stands in sharp contrast to other retailers that rely more heavily on imported products. Walmart and Lowe’s said this week they may have to raise prices if Trump’s tariffs take effect, while companies like Steve Madden are accelerating plans to move production out of China.

“Our model is everyday low prices. But there will likely be cases where prices will rise for consumers,” Walmart Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey said in an interview with CNBC.

TJX may also have to increase prices. But the company said it will still be a bargain compared to the competition.

“TJX’s view is that they can still maintain far more competitive pricing than mainstream retailers, regardless of tariffs,” said Neil Saunders, an analyst at GlobalData Retail, in an email to CNN. “In other words, even if prices rise across the board due to tariffs, TJX will still be relatively cheaper.”