President Donald Trump lashed out at Walmart on Saturday after the company said it would raise prices—because of tariffs Trump put in place.
“Walmart should STOP trying to blame Tariffs as the reason for raising prices throughout the chain,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “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,” he added. “I’ll be watching, and so will your customers!!!”
The comments came after Walmart announced Thursday that it plans to hike prices starting next month. The company blamed increased costs tied to Trump’s sweeping tariff policies.
Walmart defended the decision. “We have always worked to keep our prices as low as possible and we won’t stop,” a spokesperson said on Saturday. “We’ll keep prices as low as we can for as long as we can given the reality of small retail margins.”
On a Thursday earnings call, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said the company isn’t “able to absorb all the pressure” from the tariffs. He pointed to narrow profit margins and increased costs.
Walmart’s first-quarter profits dropped to $4.45 billion—down from $5.10 billion a year earlier, according to the Associated Press. The company also declined to issue a profit forecast for the rest of the year, citing economic uncertainty.
Trump’s tariffs are part of a larger trade war strategy that’s been under fire for driving up consumer costs. Earlier this week, the Trump administration made a sudden move to ease some of those pressures—cutting tariffs on Chinese goods from 145% to 30% for 90 days. China responded by lowering its own retaliatory tariffs from 125% to 10%.
