Walmart is going to absorb the cost of some tariffs, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday after speaking with the company’s CEO in the wake of President Donald Trump’s warning that the retail giant should “eat the tariffs.”
Bessent detailed his conversation with Walmart CEO Doug McMillon during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,” when he was asked about Trump’s social media post warning the company against raising its prices for consumers, as McMillon alluded to in an earnings call last week.
“I did speak to Doug McMillon, who I have a very good relationship, yesterday just to understand what he had to say,” Bessent said, adding that McMillon’s comments had come during an earnings call where the secretary said companies must give “the most draconian case” because of SEC requirements.
“So Walmart will be absorbing some of the tariffs,” Bessent said. “Some may get passed on to consumers.”
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On Thursday, McMillon said Walmart would do its best to keep prices down, but with 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.”
McMillon made the statement as the retailer reported its first-quarter results, which met Wall Street expectations.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WMT | WALMART INC. | 98.25 | +1.81 | +1.88% |
Trump responded to the statement on Saturday with a post on his Truth Social platform.
“Walmart should STOP trying to blame Tariffs as the reason for raising prices throughout the chain,” Trump wrote. “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. I’ll be watching, and so will your customers!!!”
Later Saturday, Walmart responded to Trump, saying in a statement, “We have always worked to keep our prices as low as possible, and we won’t stop. We’ll keep prices as low as we can for as long as we can given the reality of small retail margins.”
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Bessent also said that his conversation with McMillon covered what prices Walmart consumers are most concerned about.
“The other thing that Doug mentioned to me is, for his consumers, for his buyers, the most important thing are gasoline prices,” Bessent said. “And this administration has gotten gasoline prices down.”
National prices for regular fuel averaged $3.178 as of Sunday, compared to $3.592 a year ago, according to the American Automobile Association. Regular fuel reached its highest national average price of $5.016 on June 14, 2022, under the Biden administration.
Bessent said that while he would expect inflation to “remain in line,” he blamed former President Joe Biden for creating the current sentiment of uncertainty among American consumers.
“But I don’t blame consumers for being skittish after what happened to them four years under Biden,” he said. “We had the worst inflation in 40 years.”
Fox Business’ Brie Stimson contributed to this report.
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