Critics Seize on Impending Walmart Price Hikes Due to Trump Tariffs

Democratic lawmakers and other voices are highlighting a Thursday announcement from Walmart that the world's largest retailer will have to raise prices on some items in response to tariffs in order to heap criticism on the Trump administration's tariffs regime.

"We will do our best to keep our prices as low as possible. But given the magnitude of the tariffs, even at the reduced levels announced this week, we aren't able to absorb all the pressure given the reality of narrow retail margins," said Walmart CEO Doug McMillon on a Thursday earnings call, according to CNN.

"The higher tariffs will result in higher prices," said McMillon. CNN reported that price increases will begin later this month.

"We knew this was coming," wrote Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.), who said that U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs "will leave working families with the bill."

The Trump administration has imposed 10% global tariffs on all goods entering the United States and imposed higher tariffs on goods coming from China—though on Monday the two countries said they had reached a deal to lower the tariffs they had imposed on one another.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) used the Walmart news as a way to plug their recently introduced legislation, the Truth in Tariffs Act, which would require large retailers to display how much of an item's price stems from tariffs.

"These tariffs are just a tax hike on consumers," Schumer wrote on X on Thursday. "If a retailer as big as Walmart can't escape the pain of tariffs, what chance does a small business have? Their customers are inevitably going to see prices rise. Donald Trump's tariffs are nothing more than a tax hike on consumers."

The White House may not respond kindly to Walmart's announcement. Last month, after reports that Amazon would display tariff-based price increases next to the price of products online, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called such a move "a hostile and political act."

After a call between Trump and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, a company spokesperson said displays had been considered for only a section of the site but wouldn't be happening.

After Walmart's announcement, End Citizens United, a campaign finance reform group, wrote: "Everyday, it becomes more clear that his promise to lower costs was merely a lie he told voters on the campaign trail. He doesn't work for us. He works for himself and his deep-pocketed donors."