Yahoo TV

As the 2024 presidential election heats up, many investors have their eye on how former President Donald Trump's tariff agenda would impact the overall US economy if reelected. Whirlpool Corporation (WHR) Chairman and CEO Marc Bitzer joins Yahoo Finance executive editor Brian Sozzi to discuss how higher tariffs may affect the appliance company.

"We're heavily US exposed — just the nature of our business — and we are, by a long shot, the biggest manufacturer of appliances in the US. So right now, what we look at is just a fair level playing field. To give you one example, with steel, I'm buying — and this is nothing against our US steel producers — twice the price of China steel. If a China producer takes the same steel, puts it in an appliance, brings it to the US, they don't pay any tariffs on this today. So all we look is a fair, competitive-level playing field because we know we can compete and we're ready to fight," Bitzer explains.

He adds that higher tariffs would create some headwinds for Whirlpool's competitors. However, since 81% of Whirlpool appliances sold in the US are produced domestically, the company wouldn't be significantly impacted: "We are a US producer, and a little bit also a Mexico producer, but we're kind of very, very strongly focused in the US. So if tariffs come, it would not dramatically change our cost base."

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Market Domination Overtime.

This post was written by Melanie Riehl