US President Donald Trump has sharply criticized the world's largest retailer by revenue, the American corporation Walmart, for its decision to raise prices for goods due to tariffs imposed by the US administration.
The head of state said that the corporation "should eat tariffs" and "take nothing from respected customers". "I'll be watching, and so will your customers!" he warned. "Walmart should stop trying to cite tariffs as a reason for raising prices throughout the chain. “Walmart made billions of dollars last year, much more than expected“, Trump said.
Walmart Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey said Thursday that the company “has never seen prices go up this much and so fast, and that creates a challenging environment“. Rainey said he was “pleased with the progress the Trump administration has made on tariffs compared to the levels announced in early April, but they are still too high“. He said the corporation “will try to work with suppliers to keep prices as low as possible“.
Walmart joins a growing number of companies that have raised prices or warned of upcoming price increases in response to import tariffs. Earlier this month, Microsoft announced it would increase retail prices for its Xbox video game consoles. Last week, Ford warned that it would have to raise prices on some vehicles.
On April 2, Trump announced the introduction of tariffs on products from 185 countries and territories. Russia is not on this list. Universal tariffs of 10% came into effect on April 5, individual tariffs - on April 9. Then the American leader announced that he was suspending additional import duties imposed on a reciprocal basis on a number of countries and territories for 90 days. The White House explained that the pause was related to trade negotiations. During this period, a universal tariff of 10% will apply.