Kevin O’Leary is warning that retailers will not “eat the tariffs,” as President Trump demands, instead of hiking prices for customers.
“This idea that the president says, ‘Listen, retailers, eat the tariffs.’ That’s not going to happen,” the MAGA Shark Tank star told NewsNation’s The Hill. His comments referenced a comment Trump made in a furious response to Walmart’s decision to raise prices in response to Trump’s tariffs.
O’Leary has been a staunch defender of the Republican administration, most recently accusing a CNN host of “Trump Derangement Syndrome” as he ducked questions about the president’s plan to accept a $400 million jet from Qatar.
But the Canadian-born businessman pushed back on Trump’s demand for retailers to absorb tariff-related cost increases, saying customers and businesses will likely both end up paying more.
“There’s going to be some distribution of the pain between increased prices, and retailers will take some of the hit, but it really depends what the hit is,” O‘Leary said, acknowledging that tariff rates are still being negotiated. “We don’t know. Is it 10 percent? 20 percent? 25 percent? What is it? Nobody knows.”
The 70-year-old said he expected retailers like Walmart to lobby the administration over the levies, describing it as “the beginning of a negotiation.”
“I really think that this is kind of like jawboning between the retailer and Trump, but that’s it,” he said, adding that trade agreements that finalize the administration’s position on tariffs will help retailers navigate how to shoulder the additional cost.
“What we really want to get is a final of all these [trade] agreements around the world. Notably with the Europeans, the Indians, the Japanese, Canada, Mexico, and China‚” O’Leary said.
Trump lashed out at Walmart, the largest retailer in the U.S., over the weekend after the company’s CEO said tariffs would inevitably cause price hikes.
The Republican President told the retail giant, along with China, to “eat the tariffs” and “not charge valued customers anything.”
“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.”
Walmart last week said the company was starting to feel the strain of levies imposed by the White House because many of the retailer’s products come from China, Vietnam, and Mexico, which have all been targeted with tariffs.
“We will do our best to keep our prices as low as possible,” Walmart CEO Doug McMillon told 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 said.
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