Trump takes on Walmart over tariff price hikes, setting up potential showdown with retail industry

It's "eat the tariffs" vs. "everyday low prices."

It's "eat the tariffs" vs. "everyday low prices."

President Donald Trump has put the spotlight on one of the largest U.S. retailers over whether prices are about to start ticking up because of the sizable tariffs that he has unilaterally enacted.

Walmart has indicated that consumers will soon start seeing higher costs as Trump's tariffs have begun to take effect. And retailers broadly have tried to warn consumers about impending price hikes.

But the president has sought to aggressively counter those warnings, instead putting the blame for cost increases on U.S. companies and China, which still faces tariffs totaling more than 40% across the board on its exports to the United States. Trump has said he'll call CEOs over the issue — something he has already done with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

The standoff between the president and Walmart now looms over the other major retailers reporting earnings this week, which include Home Depot, Lowe’s, Target as well as the TJ Maxx and Marshall’s parent company TJX. These companies may have initially felt Walmart’s signals about price hikes gave them cover to enact their own cost increases — but Trump’s remarks now put them at risk of also being targeted by the president.