Former President Donald Trump has ignited a new firestorm with a furious public rebuke of Walmart, after the retail behemoth warned this week that escalating U.S.–China tariffs could lead to higher prices for American consumers.
Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said during the company’s latest earnings call that ongoing tariff hikes were already “impacting cost structures” and that consumers should “expect price pressures on core essentials” like food, electronics, and home goods. The blunt admission, reported by CNBC, triggered a swift and vitriolic response from Trump.
“Walmart is whining again because they don’t want to pay American workers or build American products,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “They’d rather import cheap junk from China and blame ME for trying to bring jobs back.”
The post, dripping with sarcasm and political muscle, has already become one of his most shared rants this month. In a follow-up video, also shared by Trump War Room on X, he called Walmart “a bloated corporate cartel that sold out the American worker” and said the company should “shut up and innovate.”
The retail giant, which employs over 1.6 million Americans and moves $100 billion in goods annually, had attempted to strike a cautious tone. McMillon told analysts on the call, “We remain committed to keeping prices low, but these tariffs make that more difficult.” The full earnings breakdown was published by The Wall Street Journal.
But Trump’s assault has since turned that cautious language into political kindling.
In a fiery segment on Fox Business, commentator Maria Bartiromo praised Trump for “calling out corporate cowardice” and claimed Walmart was “crying foul because they’re addicted to Chinese labor.” The clip has racked up over 3 million views across platforms.
Meanwhile, Walmart employees and union advocates are pushing back. In a widely shared tweet, worker advocacy group More Perfect Union wrote, “Trump says he’s for the American worker, but he’s attacking one of the largest U.S. employers for being honest about consumer pain.”
Trump’s tariff rhetoric is hardly new, but the new wave of criticism comes just as the Biden administration has kept some of those same tariffs intact. However, the latest batch—targeting semiconductors, EV batteries, and household appliances—have drawn ire from both progressive and conservative economists. As The New York Times noted, Walmart’s higher-cost warnings may be the first of many across the retail sector.
A TikTok explainer by finance influencer @MoneyMiranda broke down Walmart’s tariff-linked cost hikes and ended with: “This is Trump vs. inflation optics—and it’s messy.”
Economist Paul Krugman jumped into the fray with a tweet accusing both Trump and Walmart of “mutual gaslighting,” saying that “corporations pretending tariffs don’t hurt consumers is as dishonest as Trump pretending he cares about pricing.”
But perhaps the most viral reaction came from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who posted a video of Trump’s comments with the caption: “Trump’s economic policy: punch workers, blame China, gaslight the rest of us.” Her video, posted on Instagram, has been viewed more than 5 million times.
Walmart has yet to respond directly to Trump’s outburst, but a company spokesperson told Reuters, “Our comments reflect real-world economic pressures faced by retailers and families across the country.”
In his Truth Social follow-up, Trump appeared to double down, referencing his “great tariff strategy” from his presidency, writing, “Tariffs are beautiful. They force companies to come home, or they lose.” That post was quickly screenshotted and mocked across Reddit’s r/politics forum, with one user joking: “Trump thinks tariffs are like boomerangs—you throw them at China and somehow hit a cashier in Tulsa.”
Analysts say Trump’s broadside may also be a prelude to his campaign’s next major platform. According to a leaked strategy memo obtained by Axios, Trump advisors are preparing to unveil a new “100% Made in America” trade pitch that centers tariffs as a core message heading into the final stretch of 2024 primaries.
Whether Walmart becomes a continued political punching bag remains to be seen—but insiders say this skirmish may escalate. Trump donor and Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus commented on the spat in a Bloomberg interview, saying, “Trump knows who his enemies are. Walmart forgot who its customers vote for.”
As inflation continues to frustrate American families, and political messaging gets sharper by the day, this latest Trump-vs-corporate giant showdown is more than a headline. It’s a window into how economic fear, nationalist policy, and political branding collide—and the fallout is still coming.
