Trump Calls for Walmart ‘Eat the Tariffs’

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

“Walmart ought to STOP making an attempt guilty Tariffs as the rationale for elevating costs all through the chain. Walmart made BILLIONS OF DOLLARS final 12 months, way over anticipated,” he wrote. “Between Walmart and China they need to, as is claimed, ‘EAT THE TARIFFS,’ and never cost valued clients ANYTHING. I’ll be watching, and so will your clients!!!”

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

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 17, 2025

Must say: he had us within the first half there, not gonna lie. Trump, as he’ll do once in a while, stumbled right into a “proper for the flawed 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 instances, declining. That’s loads of purpose to press these corporations 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 providers.

As a substitute, he’s solely calling out company greed as a result of it would have an effect on him. Shopper 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 often seen as robust 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 by way of current 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 obtained Trump’s consideration as a result of it has deliberately kept its prices down by way of the primary couple of months of the President’s inexplicable commerce battle. However now it’s not so positive that it may well 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 fact of slender retail margins.” Meaning value will increase are coming, and shoppers are going to know precisely what induced 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 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 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.”