Trump Calls for Walmart ‘Eat the TariffsR...

Donald Trump is using a brand new technique to make sure that shoppers don’t blame him for the rising value of products: begging firms to save lots of him. In a submit on Reality Social on Saturday morning, the President took purpose at Walmart and mentioned the company ought to cease blaming his ongoing commerce warfare for rising costs and insisted the corporate “EAT THE TARIFFS.”

“Walmart ought to STOP attempting responsible Tariffs as the rationale for elevating costs all through the chain. Walmart made BILLIONS OF DOLLARS final yr, excess of anticipated,” he wrote. “Between Walmart and China they need to, as is alleged, ‘EAT THE TARIFFS,’ and never cost valued prospects ANYTHING. I’ll be watching, and so will your prospects!!!”

Trump calls for that Walmart “EAT THE TARIFFS” and never increase costs pic.twitter.com/Fo2dNCUg03

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 17, 2025

Should say: he had us within the first half there, not gonna lie. Trump, as he’ll do every so often, stumbled right into a “proper for the improper causes” state of affairs by calling out the truth that corporate profits continue to climb at a time when the cost of living is going up and wages are largely stagnant—and in some circumstances, declining. That’s loads of motive to press these firms to pay their staff a good wage, enhance the advantages and situations of their workforce, cap govt compensation, or simply tax them extra and fund social companies.

As an alternative, he’s solely calling out company greed as a result of it would have an effect on him. Client confidence is already at a three-year low, and his approval ratings are sinking, together with hitting new lows on economic matters that he’s normally considered as robust on. And that’s all earlier than we actually see costs bounce from Trump’s tariffs. Most retailers have saved their costs the identical as they work by means of present inventory, per Bloomberg, however that’s more likely to change as new shipments are available in and get hit by Trump’s tax on items.

Walmart acquired Trump’s consideration as a result of it has deliberately kept its prices down by means of the primary couple of months of the President’s inexplicable commerce warfare. However now it’s not so certain that it might probably hold that up. Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said throughout an earnings name earlier this week that the corporate would do its finest to maintain costs down, however “we aren’t capable of soak up all of the strain given the truth of slim retail margins.” Which means worth will increase are coming, and shoppers are going to know precisely what brought on it: Trump’s tariffs.

So now the President appears caught between a rock and a tough place that he willingly crawled into. He can’t further back down from his trade war, particularly with China or he’ll look weak. And he can’t actually do something to carry down prices for shoppers regardless of loving to take credit for cheap gas and eggs each time he can. So he’s caught posting into the void, screaming at firms to “EAT THE TARIFFS” for him. It’s a far cry from his claim that tariffs are “a tax on a international nation” that “doesn’t have an effect on our nation.”