Trump Calls for Walmart ‘Eat the Tariffs’

Donald Trump is using a brand new technique to make sure that customers don’t blame him for the rising value of products: begging companies to avoid wasting him. In a publish on Reality Social on Saturday morning, the President took purpose at Walmart and stated the company ought to cease blaming his ongoing commerce conflict for rising costs and insisted the corporate “EAT THE TARIFFS.”

“Walmart ought to STOP attempting in charge Tariffs as the rationale for elevating costs all through the chain. Walmart made BILLIONS OF DOLLARS final yr, way over anticipated,” he wrote. “Between Walmart and China they need to, as is claimed, ‘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 unsuitable causes” scenario 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 instances, declining. That’s loads of purpose to press these firms to pay their workers a good wage, enhance the advantages and situations of their workforce, cap government compensation, or simply tax them extra and fund social companies.

As a substitute, he’s solely calling out company greed as a result of it’d 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 seen as sturdy on. And that’s all earlier than we actually see costs soar from Trump’s tariffs. Most retailers have saved their costs the identical as they work via present inventory, per Bloomberg, however that’s more likely to change as new shipments are available 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 via the primary couple of months of the President’s inexplicable commerce conflict. However now it’s not so positive that it could maintain 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 in a position to soak up all of the stress given the truth of slim retail margins.” Which means value will increase are coming, and customers are going to know precisely what triggered 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 deliver down prices for customers regardless of loving to take credit for cheap gas and eggs every time he can. So he’s caught posting into the void, screaming at companies 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.”