Donald Trump ordered Walmart to “eat the tariffs” after the retail giant announced price hikes in the wake of the president’s tariffs.
“Walmart should STOP trying to blame Tariffs as the reason for raising prices throughout the chain,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Saturday. “Walmart made BILLIONS OF DOLLARS last year, far more than expected. Between Walmart and China they should, as is said, ‘EAT THE TARIFFS,’ and not charge valued customers ANYTHING.”
“I’ll be watching, and so will your customers!!!” the president said.
Walmart’s CEO, Doug McMillon, had said during a Thursday earnings call that his company had begun to feel the pain of Trump’s tariffs. Much of Walmart’s stock comes from foreign countries—including China, Mexico, and Vietnam, another executive said.
“We will do our best to keep our prices as low as possible,” McMillon said on the call, per CNN. “But given the magnitude of the tariffs, even at the reduced levels announced this week, we aren’t able to absorb all the pressure given the reality of narrow retail margins.”
“The higher tariffs will result in higher prices,” he reiterated.
Walmart poured cold water on Trump’s power play in a statement to the Daily Beast.
“We have always worked to keep our prices as low as possible, and we won’t stop,” spokesperson Joe Pennington said. “We’ll keep prices as low as we can for as long as we can given the reality of small retail margins.”
Walmart’s price hikes came even after Trump announced a temporary reprieve on his sky-high 145 percent import tax on China, which was dropped to just 30 percent. China agreed to drop its counter-tariff from 125 percent to 10 percent.
CFO John David Rainey told CNBC that he was “pleased with the progress that’s been made by the [Trump] administration on tariffs from the levels that were announced in early April, but they’re still too high.”
Walmart’s stock price dipped around 4 percent immediately after the price hikes were announced but had recovered by the market’s close on Friday.
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