KPMG: a third of big companies now pass most tariff costs to customers

New tariff-related pricing data from KPMG shows the pass-through trend that started in 2025 is still accelerating. In a February 2026 survey of 300 C-suite executives at companies with more than $1 billion in revenue, 34% said they were now passing on more than half of their tariff-related costs to customers — up from 21% in September 2025 and just 13% in May 2025, shortly after the initial round of tariffs was announced.\n\nThe survey also found 55% of executives planning further price increases of up to 15% within the next six months. KPMG framed the shift as businesses moving from "evaluating" to "actively executing" on both pricing and supply-chain responses, including a rise in reshoring activity: 34% of respondents said they were hiring for tariff-related specialized roles, up from 22% in September.\n\nEconomists have flagged a related "trickle-up" pattern in how companies are implementing these increases. Rather than repricing immediately to fully offset new costs, many firms are raising prices gradually over several quarters — partly to avoid shocking customers, and partly because long-term supply contracts prevent immediate repricing even when a business wants to move faster. Federal Reserve Bank of New York researchers have pointed to this contract-lag effect as one reason full pass-through of 2025's tariffs is still working its way through the economy well into 2026.\n\nThe Supreme Court's ruling against a portion of the administration's tariffs (the IEEPA-based duties) added a fresh layer of uncertainty this spring, but KPMG's follow-up polling found little sign that pricing plans reversed course — half of respondents reported low confidence in executing investment plans even after the ruling, suggesting most companies are treating current tariff levels as the planning baseline rather than betting on further relief.