After Walmart Raises Prices Due To Trump Tariffs, Other Retailers Follow Suit, Raising Inflation Fears

Walmart recently announced that due to the tariffs being implemented by President Donald Trump, their prices will have to rise.

The move allows other retailers, both small and large, to set prices with greater freedom. With the competition decreasing, other retailers can comfortably act off the benchmark set by Walmart, as the incoming tariffs are expected to impact them all. Retail analysts have confirmed that Walmart’s announcement gives other businesses space to breathe.

“What they are doing is providing air cover for the tens of thousands of retailers – extra-large, large, medium, and small – all of whom are faced with exactly the same issue, and all of whom are going to be raising their prices,” Mark Cohen, a former director of retail studies and current professor at Columbia Business School, explained.

Because Walmart leads the market with its prices, competitive retailers are likely to follow suit when it comes to rising costs. However, it is less likely that other businesses will publicly attribute the blame to tariffs.

Neil Saunders, a global retail analyst, wrote that he hoped Walmart’s open dialogue about the issues tariffs cause would inspire other retailers to embrace the same level of honesty when their prices hike. But the consequences of this open dialogue may dissuade them.

Trump openly criticized the company after their announcement. In a Truth Social post, he stated Walmart should “‘EAT THE TARIFFS,’ and not charge valued customers ANYTHING. I’ll be watching.”

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed that “Chinese producers will be absorbing the costs of these tariffs,” even though many businesses have already shared that their prices will rise with those costs.

This is not the first time Trump has bashed a large company for linking raising prices to tariffs.

Amazon was briefly under scrutiny when reports circulated that it planned to publicize the impact tariffs had on its prices. Although the company denied those plans, the president’s reaction issued a warning to other companies considering the same course of action.

Consumers should expect Walmart’s prices to rise by the end of this month, and even more in June.