His Treasury Secretary acknowledged that Trump’s tariffs could mean fees paid by Walmart shoppers.
Bessent described his phone call with the company’s CEO after Trump warned Walmart to avoid raising prices from tariffs and vowed to keep an eye on its role.
Bessent delayed focus on inflation due to questions about Trump’s economic leadership, praising the uncertainty induced by Trump as a negotiating strategy for trade talks and rejected the downgrade of U.S. government debt with Moody’s rating.
However, Walmart doesn’t seem ready to “eat tariffs” because Trump insists that the company and China will do so.
Bessent said he spoke with Walmart CEO Doug McMillon on Saturday, who stressed in two news show interviews that he believes what really matters to Walmart customers is the drop in gasoline prices. According to the AAA, the average gas is about $3.18 per gallon, down from a year ago, but also higher in the past week.
“Wal-Mart will absorb some tariffs, and some may pass to consumers,” Becent said. “In general, I expect inflation will remain consistent. But I don’t blame consumers for what happened after years of happening under Biden,” referring to the four-decade highs in June 2022 under then-President Joe Biden as he recovered from the pandemic, government spending and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Wal-Mart did not comment on Bessent’s description of his conversation with McMillon. Trump said in a social media post Saturday morning that Walmart should not charge customers more to offset the new tariffs. “I can watch it, and your customers can watch it too!!!” he posted.
Bessent said Walmart was “obligated to give the worst case scenario so they were not prosecuted” on Thursday’s revenue call, suggesting he doesn’t think the price increase would be serious.
But Walmart executives last week said higher prices began to appear on shelves in late April and accelerated this month.
“We keep the price low on wired, but there are restrictions we can afford or any retailer,” Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey told the Associated Press on Thursday.
Bessent insists that rating downgrades are a “lagging indicator” as financial markets have been priced at about $36 trillion in total federal debt. According to the federal budget committee, the tax plan promoted by Trump will increase by about $3.3 trillion over the next decade, of which $600 billion was added in 2027 alone.
The Finance Minister insists that the deficit is not a problem because the economy will grow faster than debt accumulation, thus reducing its increase in size as a whole.
Most independent analyses are skeptical of the administration’s claims that it has failed to achieve an average growth of 3% due to Trump’s 2018 tax cuts. The tax cuts in Trump’s first term did boost economic growth before the pandemic, but they also increased budget deficits relative to previous estimates from the Congressional Budget Office.
On tariffs, the Trump administration is still working to determine interest rates for about 40 major trading partners before the July deadline. It is also in the early stages of 90-day negotiations with China after agreeing to re-extract the country’s tariffs from 145% to 30% a week ago.
Any concerns about small business owners’ tariffs are likely to reflect higher interest rates previously accused in China, Bessent said. Still, uncertainty remains a major obstacle for consumers and businesses trying to develop spending plans in the coming weeks, months and years.
“Strategic uncertainty is a negotiating strategy,” Becente said. “So if we are going to give other countries excessive certainty, then they will play us in the negotiations.”
Bessent appears on NBC’s “Meet the Press” and CNN’s “League Status”.
