President Donald Trump and American retail giant Walmart are trading stern words this week over the impact of the administration’s tariffs, after the company’s announcement of impending price hikes drew ire from the Republican leader.
Trump blasted the company on social media last weekend, accusing Walmart of unfairly blaming his tariffs for their expected price increases and ordering the world’s largest retailer to “eat the tariffs” and not pass the import costs on to consumers.
“I’ll be watching, and so will your customers!!!” Trump said on May 17 in a Truth Social post.
The company responded to the president’s words in a statement to USA TODAY on Tuesday, May 20.
“We have always worked to keep our prices as low as possible and we won’t stop,” Walmart 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.”
Despite exceeding sales expectations in the first quarter, Walmart may soon have to increase prices for shoppers due to higher tariffs imposed by the Trump administration, according to earnings calls.
Walmart is the latest U.S. company to avoid giving second-quarter profit guidance due to the uncertainty around Trump’s tariffs, as it joins a growing cadre of retailers warning of likely price hikes.
Trump has long insisted that other countries pay the cost of tariffs, despite many economists saying American businesses importing foreign goods pay for tariffs and usually pass that cost on to customers to retain their profits.
“The level of tariffs that have been proposed is pretty challenging for all retailers, for suppliers, and certainly our concern is that consumers are going to feel some of that,” Walmart’s chief financial officer and executive vice president John David Rainey said in an interview with CNBC on May 15.
Rainey told CNBC prices will likely rise toward the tail end of this month and into June, with products like electronics, toys and food specifically mentioned in the company’s May 15 first quarter earnings call with management and investors.
Walmart President Douglas McMillion said in the call that they want to keep food and consumable prices as low as possible, but said tariffs on countries like Costa Rica, Peru, and Colombia are “pressuring imported items like bananas, avocados, coffee, and roses.”
Trump’s tariffs have upended global trade since early April, when he announced 10% tariffs on imports from all countries and higher nation-specific tariffs on 60 countries. He has since paused those additional fees and pursued negotiations to reach a deal on so-called “reciprocal” rates.
