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Trump tells Walmart to 'eat the tariffs' instead of raising prices (www.reuters.com)

submitted 2 weeks ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/economics@lemmy.world

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Trump said on Saturday that Walmart should "eat the tariffs" instead of blaming duties imposed by his administration on imported goods for the retailer's increased prices.

His comments were in response to the world's largest retailer saying this week it would have to start raising prices later this month due to high tariffs.

As a bellwether of U.S. consumer health, Walmart's explicit statement about the impact of tariffs is a signpost for how the trade war is affecting the retail sector. Walmart is noted for its ability to manage costs more aggressively than other companies to keep prices low.

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[–] adarza@lemmy.ca 18 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Walmart is noted for its ability to manage costs more aggressively than other companies to keep prices low.

yes. they have sheer scale on their side. but they don't 'manage costs' to 'keep prices low', they do it to 'maximize profits'

[–] justOnePersistentKbinPlease@fedia.io 7 points 2 weeks ago

Studied them in operations management.

They do both. Theyre big enough that they can dictate a price to their suppliers, and do so frequently so that they can create functional monopolies, which they then keep low so that they can raise end prices and increase profit.

[–] sj_zero@lotide.fbxl.net 1 points 2 weeks ago

It results in both. One of the reasons why they are one of the largest retailers in the world is that they maximize profits by selling lots of stuff by selling it for low prices.