Walmart Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey warned that President-elect Trump’s proposed tariffs could lead to higher prices for Walmart shoppers.
“Tariffs are going to be inflationary. There’s no disputing that,” Rainey said during an interview with Liz Claman on “The Claman Countdown” on Thursday. “Likely consumers are going to pay more for the items that they pay and that these tariffs are applied to.”
Under the proposals, a universal 10%-20% tariff would be imposed on imports from all foreign countries and an additional 60%-100% tariff would be imposed on imports specifically from China.
While Rainey said two-thirds of the items the company sells are made, grown or assembled in the U.S., he said it is “in no way immune to this.”
The company has suppliers from all over the world, including China and other countries throughout Asia.
“We’re going to work with our suppliers as well as our own private brand assortment to continue to try to bring down prices for customers,” Rainey said.
A Walmart spokesperson said in a statement to FOX Business that the company remains “concerned that significantly increased tariffs could lead to increased costs for our customers at a time when they are still feeling the remnants of inflation.”
Rainey said there is still a bit of inflation in food prices, though the company has seen deflation in categories such as consumables and general merchandise. He said it’s too hard to predict what products would be affected and by how much.
The National Retail Federation (NRF), the largest U.S. retail trade group, estimated in a recent study that Trump’s proposed new tariffs could cost American consumers between $46 billion and $78 billion in spending power annually.
The NRF also said six categories of goods would be impacted, including apparel, toys, furniture, household appliances, footwear and travel goods.
Some U.S. manufacturers may benefit from the tariffs, but the gains for U.S. producers and the Treasury would not outweigh the overall losses to consumers, according to the trade group.
The organization said low-income families would get hit especially hard.
it should be fair trade if you don’t have a job you wont have to worry about tariffs lets make fair trade we can sale cars in Japan but they can in our country do you think that is right
I am so damn tired of people like the CFO of Walmart bitching about profits because of tariffs against China and other countries using slave labor and children to make cheap garbage that stores like Walmart sell at a huge markup and try to make the average consumer believe that they care about them, which they don’t all they worry about is their bottom line.
Maybe Walmart should stop selling crap from China! Fill the store with made in America and all our allies merchandise. We do not need to support China, our enemy. Trump should raise all the tariffs on China and another enemy that thinks they can load their garbage here. If Walmart is not America first well it can close down!
Patriot Americans are glad to see the companies that uses our freedoms over the threats made on Americans for profits. That’s just an excuse to raises your prices. In a lot of areas people are tired of Walmarts inconsistencies in their policies. When u go into stores now many walk out because of not getting waited on in their stores, so if you have a problem making contact with anyone to talf to using the AI fools that just waste your time. The Democrats have brought on the worst life on patriot citizens by bringing its communist tactics.