Walmart Says Prices Will Spike in About Two Weeks as Trump’s Tariffs Hit

The U.S. is currently charging a 30% tariff on most goods coming from China, down from the 145% tariffs President Donald Trump had imposed in the aftermath of his April 2 “Liberation Day” announcement. Online retailers like Temu and Shein have already been hit with higher prices, but the question on every American consumer’s mind right now is when we’ll start to see those higher prices reflected at our local stores. The answer, according to Walmart, is at the end of May.

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon explained the situation on an earnings call Thursday, saying there are categories of goods that need to be imported, and noting that the “prices of those things are likely going to go up, and that’s not good for consumers.”

McMillon praised the Trump regime for lowering the tariffs on China, though economists will tell you the pause is both temporary and an extremely large new tax on all goods coming from overseas. A universal tariff of 10% on goods coming from every other country around the world is also in place, a substantial tax on consumers.

“We’re very pleased and appreciative of the progress that’s been made by the administration to bring tariffs down to this level,” McMillon said. “And the guidance that we gave today, the affirmation of our full year guidance, is with tariffs at this level. But let me emphasize, we still think that’s too high.”

Walmart CFO John David Rainey appeared on CNBC to discuss the earnings report Thursday, and he was able to lay out a timetable for when prices should start to spike. Unfortunately, it’s just around the corner.

“We’re wired for everyday low prices, but the magnitude of these increases is more than any retailer can absorb,” Rainey told CNBC. “It’s more than any supplier can absorb. And so I’m concerned that the consumer is going to start seeing higher prices. You’ll begin to see that, likely towards the tail end of this month, and then certainly much more in June.”

Rainey talked about the chaos of the environment right now. The CFO said retailers wish they had a “crystal ball” in order “to figure out where a tariff is going to be at what point in time so they can manage their inventory flow.”

Walmart hasn’t provided second-quarter earnings guidance, which prompted CNBC to ask if the company was waiting to see where the tariff rates would settle. “How do you plan if the outlook is so murky?” the host asked.

Rainey told CNBC that the reason was threefold. First, there was indeed a “wide range of outcomes just in terms of what could happen with tariffs,” and maintaining “flexibility” was important. Second, they wanted to be “aggressive on price in certain areas where we think that we can gain share.” Lastly, Rainey said that using the retail method of accounting was also making it difficult to provide guidance.

President Trump has poked fun at anyone worried about the price increases that American consumers are about to experience, despite the fact that one of the main reasons he was elected in 2024 was over his ridiculous promise to lower prices “on day one.” The fascist president has changed his tune, and now insists that Americans can just live with fewer goods, something that’s been reflected in his fixation on the number of dolls that kids will be allowed to play with.

“Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, and maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally,” Trump first said on April 30.

Trump has repeated that line about having fewer dolls several times during interviews, even throwing goods like pencils into the mix. And given the 30% tariffs that are currently being paid for goods coming in from China, those jokes about dolls are probably going to become a lot less funny for Americans in the very near future.