[Text/Observer Network, Xiong Chaoyan] On May 17 local time, US President Trump posted a message fiercely criticizing the retail giant Walmart. Previously, this largest American retailer warned that it would have to raise prices due to the threat of tariffs.

On his self-created social media platform "Truth Social", Trump wrote: "Walmart should not try to use tariffs as an excuse for price increases across the entire chain. Between Walmart and China, they should 'absorb the tariffs' instead of charging any fees to their valuable customers. I will be watching, and so will your customers!!!"

On May 15 local time, John David Rainey, Walmart's Chief Financial Officer, told CNBC in an interview that he had never seen such a significant increase in prices at such a rapid pace before, which created a challenging environment.

File photo of a Walmart supermarket in the United States.

CNBC reported that as a retail giant and the largest grocer in the U.S., Walmart is often considered a barometer for measuring the health of retailers and American consumers.

Rainey said he was pleased with the progress made on tariff levels announced by the Trump administration in early April, but they were still too high. Although there was a 90-day "reprieve" period during which the U.S. reduced the tariff rates on Chinese imports and imposed a "basic tariff" of 10% on other countries' goods, Walmart imported large quantities of electronics and toys from China, as well as avocados and bananas from Central and South America.

Rainey said Walmart wanted to maintain lower prices than its competitors, especially when shoppers were looking for discounts. To achieve this, Walmart would absorb some of the higher costs related to tariffs, and he expected suppliers to absorb some of these higher costs as well. He also said the company would "work hard with suppliers to keep prices as low as possible."

On May 17 local time, after Trump posted the message, when asked to comment on the post, Walmart expressed the same view.

In a statement, Walmart said: "We are constantly working to keep prices as low as possible and we won't stop. Given the reality of low retail profit margins, we will maintain low prices for as long as possible."

It was reported that like many other companies, Walmart has raised prices or warned that its retail product prices would rise due to tariffs. Microsoft increased the suggested retail prices of Xbox gaming consoles and some controllers earlier this month.

Mattel, the manufacturer of Barbie dolls, announced earlier this month that it would move production out of China, but expected its toy prices to still rise. Ford warned last week that the company would have to raise prices for some models.

On April 29 local time, Punchbowl News, an emerging American media outlet, reported that Amazon's shopping website would soon display the impact of Trump's tariffs by marking the additional costs added to the prices of its products.

After the news broke, the White House immediately launched a fierce attack. At a press conference that morning, White House Press Secretary Lettieri called Amazon's supposed consideration of such plans "hostile and politically motivated" and asked: "Why doesn't Amazon do this when the Biden administration is raising inflation to its highest level in 40 years?"

In the afternoon, Trump told reporters that he had spoken to Amazon founder Bezos, who "quickly resolved the issue and did the right thing." Meanwhile, Amazon quickly responded by saying that only Amazon Haul, its low-cost e-commerce team, had considered marking up prices to reflect additional costs, but it was not approved or implemented, and the main Amazon shopping site would not do so either.

Notably, on the same day, after seeing Amazon criticized by the White House, Walmart responded to US media by saying that the company "would not detail the cost composition of its products on its official website."

Previously, according to a report by the South China Morning Post on April 29, after the sharp decline in freight volumes due to the escalation of the Sino-US trade dispute, in recent days, Walmart and other major US retailers have notified some manufacturers in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces to resume supplies.

"Our long-term partner Walmart has notified us to start shipping to the U.S., and we do not need to bear the additional costs of new tariffs on Chinese goods." On April 28, a vice president of a large stationery and office supplies exporter in Ningbo revealed that they had received a notice from Walmart requiring them to resume normal shipments to the U.S. The company stated that the cost of the new import tariffs would be borne by American customers. In addition, at least one exporter in Jiangsu also received a notice about demand recovery and inventory preparation.

According to a report by Ming Pao on April 26, during the 137th Canton Fair, several exporters also mentioned that after Walmart, Home Depot, Target, and other retail giants met with US President Trump on April 21 local time, Walmart had already notified Chinese suppliers to resume sending goods that had been temporarily suspended due to the tariff war at the beginning of the month, with the tariffs borne by American buyers.

This article is an exclusive contribution by Observer Network and cannot be reprinted without permission.

Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7505575332003545637/

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