After Walmart leaders said customers should expect price increases due to Donald Trump’s trade war, the president said the large box should not increase prices and absorb the costs of his prices.
“Walmart should stop trying to blame prices as a reason for increasing prices throughout the channel,” said Trump on Truth Social on Saturday. “Walmart won billions of dollars last year, much more than expected. Between Walmart and China, they should, as it is said,” eat prices “, and do not charge for appreciated customers. I will look, and your customers too !!!”
During the last month, Trump announced various pricing policies – starting with high and fairly absurd rates on goods imported from most countries, before mainly reducing the rate to 10% outside a 145% rate on China.
Earlier this week, the United States and China agreed with a 90-day break where it will reduce the reciprocal rates from 125% to 10%. Based on the tariff of 20% of Trump on China, because the punishment for having supposedly failed to stem the fentanyl flow in the United States, prices on Chinese imports are currently 30%.
Trump has acknowledged that his prices could lead to higher prices for parents and that Americans may need to reduce expenses – by making it precisely that they can buy their children for fewer dolls – but also said the prices will make America rich.
“I would like to thank President Trump and (Treasury Secretary Scott) is for the progress made recently,” Walmart CEO Douglas McMillon said on Thursday. “We hope that this will lead to a longer-term agreement between the United States and China which would cause even lower prices.”
But the CEO warned that Walmart will increase prices in response to prices.
“We will do our best to maintain our prices as low as possible,” said McMillon. “But given the extent of the prices, even at the reduced levels announced this week, we are unable to absorb all the pressure given the reality of narrow retail margins.”
He added that “higher rates will lead to higher prices”.
Walmart’s financial director John David Rainey told CNBC on Thursday that prices are “still too high”.
“We are wired for low prices every day, but the magnitude of these increases is more than any retailer can absorb,” he said. “It is more than any supplier can absorb. And I fear that (the) consumer will start to see higher prices. You will start to see this, probably towards the end of this month, and certainly much more in June. ”
Walmart, the largest retailer in the United States, obtains products from Canada, China, India, Mexico and Vietnam, all countries with at least 10% prices.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lunick told CNN earlier this month that Trump administration prices would not go below 10%.
“We have always worked to maintain our prices as low as possible and we will not stop. We will keep the prices as low as possible as long as we can give the reality of small retail margins,” Walmart told CNN in a press release.
Walmart won $ 4.45 billion in the first quarter this year, compared to $ 5.10 billion in the first quarter of last year. Rainey told the Associated Press that the price of bananas imported from Costa Rica had gone from 50 to 54 cents per book. He said the price of car seats from China would like $ 350 to $ 450.
