Walmart Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey warned that President-elect Trump’s proposed tariffs could lead to higher prices for Walmart shoppers.
“Tariffs are going to be inflationary. There’s no disputing that,” Rainey said during an interview with Liz Claman on “The Claman Countdown” on Thursday.
“Likely consumers are going to pay more for the items that they pay and that these tariffs are applied to.”
Under the proposals, a universal 10%-20% tariff would be imposed on imports from all foreign countries and an additional 60%-100% tariff would be imposed on imports specifically from China.
While Rainey said two-thirds of the items the company sells are made, grown or assembled in the U.S., he said it is “in no way immune to this.”
The company has suppliers from all over the world, including China and other countries throughout Asia.
“We’re going to work with our suppliers as well as our own private brand assortment to continue to try to bring down prices for customers,” Rainey said.
A Walmart spokesperson said in a statement to FOX Business that the company remains “concerned that significantly increased tariffs could lead to increased costs for our customers at a time when they are still feeling the remnants of inflation.”
Rainey said there is still a bit of inflation in food prices, though the company has seen deflation in categories such as consumables and general merchandise. He said it’s too hard to predict what products would be affected and by how much.
The National Retail Federation (NRF), the largest U.S. retail trade group, estimated in a recent study that Trump’s proposed new tariffs could cost American consumers between $46 billion and $78 billion in spending power annually.
The NRF also said six categories of goods would be impacted, including apparel, toys, furniture, household appliances, footwear and travel goods.
Some U.S. manufacturers may benefit from the tariffs, but the gains for U.S. producers and the Treasury would not outweigh the overall losses to consumers, according to the trade group.
The organization said low-income families would get hit especially hard.
