“ Trump tells Walmart to 'eat the tariffs' instead of raising prices WASHINGTON, May 17 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that Walmart <WMT.N> should "eat the tariffs" instead of blaming duties imposed by his administration on imported goods for the retailer's increased prices. His comments were in response to the world's largest retailer saying this week it would have to start raising prices later this month due to high tariffs. The Reuters Tariff Watch newsletter is your daily guide to the latest global trade and tariff news. Sign up here. "Walmart should STOP trying to blame Tariffs as the reason for raising prices throughout the chain. Walmart made BILLIONS OF DOLLARS last year, far more than expected," Trump said in a social media post. 'We are grateful for their longstanding efforts not simply on trying to broker peace, but on the exchanges of prisoners. "Between Walmart and China they should, as is said, 'EAT THE TARIFFS,' and not charge valued customers ANYTHING." Walmart said it has always worked to keep its prices as low as possible, adding that this practice will not stop. "We’ll keep prices as low as we can for as long as we can given the reality of small retail margins," the company said in a statement to Reuters. Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said on Thursday the retailer could not absorb all the tariff costs because of narrow retail margins. Even so, he said, the company was committed to ensuring that tariff-related costs on general merchandise, which primarily comes from China, would not drive food prices higher. Advertisement · Scroll to continue Many U.S. companies have either slashed or pulled their full-year expectations amid friction between the U.S. and its trading partners, particularly China, as consumers curtail spending. As a bellwether of U.S. consumer health, Walmart's explicit statement about the impact of tariffs is a signpost for how the trade war is affecting the retail sector. Walmart is noted for its ability to manage costs more aggressively than other companies to keep prices low. Advertisement · Scroll to continue Every week, 255 million people shop in its stores or place orders online around the world, and 90% of the U.S. population lives within 10 miles (16 km) of a Walmart. Walmart's disclosure comes about three weeks after a published report that Amazon (AMZN.O), opens new tabplanned to disclose how much Trump-imposed tariffs were adding to the costs of its products. The White House blasted Amazon over the report, which the company promptly denied. Reporting by Jasper Ward in Washington; Editing by Frank McGurty and Rod Nickel” https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-tells-walmart-eat-tariffs-instead-raising-prices-2025-05-17/
I own a few thousand shares of WMT, it’s important to shareholders like myself. To people who don’t, they probably don’t care.
This is an idiotic demand by Trump. Retail survives on small margins -- even giants like Walmart. No large scale retail business is going to "eat the tariffs" -- their large shareholders would outright revolt if they did and demand the executives step down.
Whoopsie, OP risking a ban from Baron: "The last thing I want to see is a bunch of threads with the word "Trump" in them on the homepage. So... If you post a political thread in the Wall St. News forum, the Economics forum, or any other trading-related forum, you will get a temporary ban without notice. If you continue to do it, the ban will become permanent." https://www.elitetrader.com/et/threads/political-threads-in-the-wrong-forum-consequences.384632/
True, we're just waiting to see how much more meat is left on this bone. You know... before it turns into "orange man bad".