Why Walmart decided to raise prices and put Trump's rage at risk

last month, Walmart He downplayed how many investors' tariffs on President Donald Trump's impact on the business. CEO Doug McMillon pointed out other challenging times when the company weathered, like the aftermath of 9/11, and CEO of international business didn't even win trade on a panel with global corporate leaders.

The largest retailer in the United States won a very different tone on Thursday. In an interview with revenue calls and CNBC's quarterly results, the company warned that a higher obligation to import would soon mean higher shopper prices.

“We are pleased with the progress made by the (Trump) administration on tariffs from levels announced in early April, but they are still too expensive,” CFO John David Rainey told CNBC in an interview.

He added that Walmart is “a low-cost, wired everyday, but the magnitude of these increases is greater than any retailer can absorb.”

Disc Counter's remarks pose a risk, considering Trump's history of publicly attacking other businesses and people perceived to oppose his agenda. Sure enough, he assaulted him at Walmart on a social media post over the weekend, telling the company to “eat tariffs.”

The shift in tone of tones about the impact of tariffs and travel between the White House is the latest illustration of the delicate dance of customers, shareholders and business leaders trying to appease the infamous White House as Trump's ever-changing trade policy. But the more candid reaction of discounters highlights areas where corporate leaders are willing to grow publicly criticising Trump's policy stance.

“Taxes are the only topic we've broken through through truly quiet corporate engagement,” said Joanna Piacenza, vice president of thought leadership at Gravity Research, a Washington, DC-based company that helps businesses navigate reputational risks and count Fortune 500 companies as clients. “It's a problem for CEOs to speak comfortably because they are tied to business issues. This cannot necessarily be said about other polarization issues that currently dominate jittegeists.”

Walmart responded to Trump with a unique statement, reflecting his commitment to maintaining low prices.

“We've always worked to keep prices as low as possible, but it's not stopping,” Walmart said. “We'll keep the reality of retail margins as low as possible, as possible, prices.”

Walmart declined to comment beyond that statement. Sources close to the company said Walmart's decision to warn of price increases was motivated by a sense of obligation to explain to customers and investors why prices were rising.

Walmart prices are being closely monitored for their big reach, but it wasn't alone. Other companies, including Microsoft and Subaru, have warned of rising prices related to tariffs. However, on Tuesday, Home Depot broke in that pattern as CFO Richard McPhail plans to “maintain current pricing levels across the portfolio.”

Consumers and investors will have a clearer reading of how businesses will handle pricing in the coming days. target and LowesIn particular, we will post the results for the first quarter.

When Trump prepared to take office, the corporate world welcomed him by helping his inauguration committee deliver a record $239 million. These funds included donations from the National Retail Federation, the industry lobbying division, and the giant target, who contributed to the inauguration committee for the first time in at least a decade. The NRF gave the fund $250,000, and Target wrote a check for $1 million.

Walmart also donated $150,000 to Trump's first committee. This coincides with the contributions of the Arkansas-based retailer of the past three inaugurations, including former President Joe Biden in 2021 and the first president in 2017.

Walmart, Target and a variety of other companies have also abolished or scrapped key diversity, equity and inclusive programs following Trump's lead. The businesses, backed by Trump's hopes of cutting taxes, remained mostly quiet about the president's policies for the first two months of his administration.

But then the tariffs came. According to data from Gravity Research, more companies spoke out than they made the announcement right next to the April 2nd announcement on April 2nd, and more companies said it was made in the immediate vicinity of the April 2nd announcement on April 2nd. April 9th ​​was the day Trump temporarily reduced those sudden collections, but hiked tariffs on Chinese imports to astronomical 145%.

From April 10th to April 25th, 139 companies responded to tariffs on channels, including press releases, revenue calls, social media, media interviews and employee notes, up from April 2nd to April 9th. The temporary tariff deferral came from a revenue call that made the CEO prepared remarks and answered analyst questions, so nearly half of the statements tracked by the company were made by the company.

The backlash against tariffs has picked up steam from several top executives who praised Trump's policy as a business boon just months ago. CEO of Delta Air Lines and jpmorgan chainthe companies each gave $1 million to Trump's inauguration fund, both spoke about how tariffs hurt U.S. consumer spending.

Hours before the president suspends some duties that day; jpmorgan chain CEO Jamie Dimon appeared on the “Morning,” a show for “Maria Maria with Maria Maria,” which Trump is known to watch, and said he saw Trump's tariffs lead to a recession in the US. It marked a sharp turn from what he said in January. He said tariffs are positive about national security and people need to “get through it.”

Delta CEO Ed Bastian also told CNBC in an interview just before the trade dispute was responsive, economic uncertainty that exempts the trade dispute has delayed airfare bookings and described Trump's rapidly changing trade policy as a “wrong approach.” In January, Bastian said 2025 would be the “best financial year in our history” of his career. However, on April 9, Delta cut its growth plans and elicited year-round guidance.

On the same day, Delta retracted its year-round guidance, but Walmart focused primarily on long-term business strategies for investors' day.

MacMillon kicked out a session of investor questions and answers and thrusts lightly as he joked about how many times the tariffs would be.

“If you want to place an online bet, the current over/under on tariff-related questions will be sitting at 6 o'clock,” he said at the time.

Walmart had not made public comments about tariffs for the following weeks, but McMillon was one of the retailers who met with Trump on his trade policy at the White House in late April. The CEOs of Home Depot and Target also participated.

After the meeting is over, all three companies will issue almost identical statements describing the meeting as “productive” or “beneficial and constructive.”

By Thursday, Walmart had clearly explained how it believes tariffs will affect its business and its customers. In addition to price warnings, Big Box retailers stuck to full-year forecasts, but due to fluctuations in U.S. customs policy, they did not provide guidance on second-quarter revenue or operating profit growth.

Da Davidson retail analyst Michael Baker said the company's leader's language is “mediocre and concrete” than last month.

“Walmart does everything with purpose and understands there is a lot of focus on what they say,” Baker said. “They are trying to inform policymakers of the idea that prices will rise and support consumers and the US population for that idea. They also send a message to policymakers that in a way it is not practical to think that the entire tariff will be absorbed by retailers or manufacturers.”

The warning led to a social media post by Trump. He and his leading economic advisers argue that shoppers don't ow the tariff costs, even though most economists say they don't.

“Walmart should stop trying to denounce tariffs as a reason to raise prices across chains,” Trump wrote on Saturday of the Truth Society. “Last year, Walmart made billions of dollars. More than I expected. Don't charge your precious customers, as it is said between Walmart and China, “eating tariffs.”

Trump's criticism of Walmart's annual profits reflects a general holdoff from many Democrats, but rarely from Republicans, especially those who primarily sided with massive corporate tax cuts in his first presidential term.

RBC's capital market retail analyst Stephen Shemesh may also explain a thinner profit margin compared to other retailers and companies. The company's operating profit margin is typically operating at around 4% to 5%. This is similar to other grocery retailers, but tends to be lower than some retailers who sell more discretionary products.

For example, Lululemon's operating profit margin was nearly 29% in the most recent quarter.

In comments Thursday, Walmart appeared to be seeking a “center” by thanking the Trump administration for the progress in talks with China to temporarily cut import duties with China from 145% to 30%, but said it would slower further, Shemesh said.

He said Walmart may have decided to be transparent with shoppers about the financial reality of tariffs on its business, particularly as its customer base tends to be price sensitive.

“The margins are thin and the costs are high. You'll eat as much as you can, but at some point you won't check out math,” he said.

According to Da Davidson's Baker, Walmart has a low-cost reputation and a huge US footprint, making it better suited to withstand the blows from Trump than many other companies. Disc counters often refer to statistics showing their huge range and explain why it is the country's top grocery store. Approximately 90% of the US population lives within 10 miles of Walmart stores.

“It's never good for the other side of the US government's problem, especially the bully pulpit that Trump tends to use. That's not great,” Baker said.

But Walmart has told customers it works to keep prices low, especially for major groceries such as milk and eggs.

“If prices need to go up, customers understand that Walmart is still a good value compared to others,” he said.

Over the next two weeks, other major retailers, including Target and Best Buy, will share their own latest updates on sales outlook.

Piacenza of Gravity Research said the brands are looking closely at each other.

“No one wants to be the tallest grass blade,” she said. “They want to do what their guys do.”

However, she added that the company's efforts to warn customers about higher prices and explain their reasons could help brands get ahead of the denunciation game.

“That's back to this question. As for the Court of Public Opinion, are consumers referring to the White House or the business for a higher price than they see?” she said.