Donald Trump is employing a new strategy to ensure that consumers don’t blame him for the increasing cost of goods: begging corporations to save him. In a post on Truth Social on Saturday morning, the President took aim at Walmart and said the corporation should stop blaming his ongoing trade war for rising prices and insisted the company “EAT THE TARIFFS.”
“Walmart should STOP trying to blame Tariffs as the reason for raising prices throughout the chain. Walmart made BILLIONS OF DOLLARS last year, far more than expected,” he wrote. “Between Walmart and China they should, as is said, ‘EAT THE TARIFFS,’ and not charge valued customers ANYTHING. I’ll be watching, and so will your customers!!!”
Trump demands that Walmart “EAT THE TARIFFS” and not raise prices pic.twitter.com/Fo2dNCUg03
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 17, 2025
Have to say: he had us in the first half there, not gonna lie. Trump, as he will do from time to time, stumbled into a “right for the wrong reasons” situation by calling out the fact 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 cases, declining. That is plenty of reason to press these companies to pay their employees a fair wage, improve the benefits and conditions of their workforce, cap executive compensation, or just tax them more and fund social services.
Instead, he’s only calling out corporate greed because it might affect him. Consumer confidence is already at a three-year low, and his approval ratings are sinking, including hitting new lows on economic matters that he is usually viewed as strong on. And that is all before we really see prices jump from Trump’s tariffs. Most retailers have kept their prices the same as they work through existing stock, per Bloomberg, but that is likely to change as new shipments come in and get hit by Trump’s tax on goods.
Walmart received Trump’s attention because it has intentionally kept its prices down through the first couple of months of the President’s inexplicable trade war. But now it’s not so sure that it can keep that up. Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said during an earnings call earlier this week that the company would do its best to keep prices down, but “we aren’t able to absorb all the pressure given the reality of narrow retail margins.” That means price increases are coming, and consumers are going to know exactly what caused it: Trump’s tariffs.
So now the President seems stuck between a rock and a hard place that he willingly crawled into. He can’t further back down from his trade war, especially with China or he’ll look weak. And he can’t really do anything to bring down costs for consumers despite loving to take credit for cheap gas and eggs whenever he can. So he’s stuck posting into the void, screaming at corporations to “EAT THE TARIFFS” for him. It’s a far cry from his claim that tariffs are “a tax on a foreign country” that “doesn’t affect our country.”
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