Walmart Pledges Transparency on Prices After Rebuke From Trump
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Walmart Inc. said it will continue to communicate the impact of tariffs with investors, consumers and policymakers after President Donald Trump criticized the retailer’s plans to raise prices.
“We don’t aim to be a political figure. We are providing facts as they come,” Dan Bartlett, executive vice president of corporate affairs, told reporters in response to a question about tariff discussions at the company’s annual shareholders’ week in Bentonville, Ark.
Trump blasted Walmart last month on social media after the retailer said it would raise prices of some goods in the wake of new tariffs. Trump said Walmart should “eat the tariffs” rather than passing its increased costs onto consumers.
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Bartlett said June 4 that Walmart aims to be consistent with what it shares internally among employees and externally to the public. During the earnings call in mid-May, executives felt that they had an obligation to tell investors and customers how they were thinking about future guidance, he said.
The world’s largest retailer has said price changes will become more pronounced as the year progresses. Some prices won’t change, thanks in part to production moves and some suppliers changing materials to mitigate tariffs. The company will maintain price gaps to competitors and keep prices as low as possible, Bartlett said.
Walmart ranks No. 1 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest private carriers in North America.
