Trump blows his cover on tariffs by bullying Walmart and cudgeling its management over pricing decisions
Talk about double exposure, President Trump’s recent tariff-connected broadside against Walmart just revealed that Trump is 1) a scam artist when it comes to explaining how tariffs work and 2) a strong-arming autocrat who tells businesses how they should operate.
On the first point, Trump has been saying since day one that tariffs are paid for by countries that ship goods to the United States. He has repeatedly said “a tariff is a tax on a foreign country.” It’s a claim that was apparently bought by legions of his followers despite the repeated rejection of that misconception by every observer and expert in the field that I’ve ever heard of.
Tariffs are not paid for by foreign countries. Tariffs are paid at the port of entry to the United States by the buyer of those foreign goods. It really can not get any simpler than that, yet by constantly repeating the claim that foreigners pay tariffs, Trump was able to sell that farcical notion to legions of uninformed supporters.
I don’t know if Trump was lying or was just wallowing in his own ignorance. Either way, that utterly nonsensical claim was exposed, and quite suddenly, a few days ago when he had a temper tantrum over Walmart’s announcement that the retailer would have to raise its prices in response to tariff-driven higher costs of inventories. On May 17, on Truth Social, Trump said “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. 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!!!”
And so, in just one angry outburst, Trump conceded that Americans pay for tariffs, that people who buy products from China are the ones stuck with the tariff bill.
I wonder if the president even realizes – or cares, for that matter – that his long-standing claim about foreigners paying tariffs was just obliterated by his social media tirade. My sense is that he really doesn’t give a damn, as consistency and credibility have never been priorities when it comes to Trump’s rhetorical style. We all know about his legacy of lies and false claims, numbering by now in the tens of thousands, so what’s another fabrication on the mechanics of tariffs?
Just another day at work.
More telling to me is how quickly Trump began to cudgel Walmart management over its announcement that price increases would happen. For a Republican - the party long known for its business friendliness and reluctance to impose controls over the private sector - to come out and tell a mega-retailer like Walmart that it shouldn’t be adjusting prices to accommodate higher costs is practically political heresy. As recently as 2012, 76% of Republicans were saying that government regulation of business does more harm than good. Indeed, during Trump’s first term he took aim, and broadly at that, at business regulations.
The hands-off approach has long been the style of Republican policies toward business.
Yet, in a single swipe at Walmart (“I’ll be watching”) Trump implied that he’ll be a watchdog if Walmart dares to “blame” tariffs for price increases.
There are 17 Walmarts in South Dakota — 15 Supercenters and 2 Sam’s Clubs — so plenty of our state’s residents are affected by what’s going on now that Trump is meddling in the company’s business by telling the company to “eat” the tariffs.
It’s impossible to say what Trump will do if Walmart doesn’t change its tune, but one thing we know for sure is that he’ll be watching, which sounds like a threat and seems altogether creepy to me.
John Tsitrian is a businessman and writer from the Black Hills. He was a weekly columnist for the Rapid City Journal for 20 years. His articles and commentary have also appeared in The Los Angeles Times, The Denver Post and The Omaha World-Herald. Tsitrian served in the Marines for three years (1966-69), including a 13-month tour of duty as a radioman in Vietnam. Republish with permission.
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