Walmart reveals impact of Trump’s tariff plan, and social media is not happy

President-elect Donald Trump has promised tariffs when he gets back into office, and Tuesday Walmart’s CFO, John David Rainey, said that is probably going to result in rising costs in his stores.

“We never want to raise prices,” Rainey told CNBC. “Our model is everyday low prices. But there probably will be cases where prices will go up for consumers.”

The fact that he is making the revelation now did not sit well on social media.

“(Walmart) why now?” one person wrote on X, tagging the company. “Why weren’t you talking about this before the election!”

“Welcome (Walmart) shoppers,” another person wrote. “The company is letting you know they will increase prices when Trump initiates his tariffs.”

Others questioned whether the store would have to raise many prices at all.

“(Walmart), why are you planning on raising prices on your products because of (Donald Trump’s) overseas tariffs plan if you are ‘locally sourcing’ Walmart brand products?” another wrote. “I get other products though. Those are from companies that source from China/Vietnam/Japan.”

“I’m hearing that (Walmart) and other mega companies are raising their prices now, based on what they think may happen with Trumps tariffs next year?” another wrote on X. “This is greed, not forecasting. It would take a few quarters, if not a full year, to see how tariffs effected their bottom line.”

There was plenty more back-and-forth over the subject on Elon Musk’s social media platform.

Walmart isn’t the only store to suggest that prices could rise. Per CNBC, Lowe’s CFO Brandon Sink said that “about 40% of the company’s cost of goods sold comes from outside the U.S., including direct imports and merchandise from national brands.

Sink told the site that tariffs “certainly would add product costs.”

And, per CNBC, during a call earlier this month, National Retail Federation CEO Matthew Shay described the tariffs as “a tax on American families.” Shay said the policy would “drive inflation and price increases and will result in job losses.”

So, people are not happy with Walmart, and they might be unhappy with many other retailers, too, if tariffs are, in fact, put in place.

Time will tell.