Walmart CFO: Trump Tariffs May Raise Prices

Walmart might have to raise prices on some items if President-elect Donald Trump's proposed tariffs take effect, CFO John David Rainey said, CNBC reported Tuesday.

"We never want to raise prices," Rainey told the news outlet. "Our model is everyday low prices. But there probably will be cases where prices will go up for consumers."

During a quarterly earnings call Tuesday, Rainey said Walmart topped its third-quarter earnings and exceeded revenue expectations. But retailers and investors worldwide are concerned about Trump's continuous talk of using tariffs to even trade discrepancies, coupled with his rhetoric toward China.  

At the Economic Club of Chicago in October, Trump doubled down on his support of tariffs on foreign manufactures, saying they are necessary to protect American jobs and industry.

"To me, the most beautiful word in the dictionary is tariff," Trump told Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait. "It's my favorite word."

Lowe's CEO Marvin Ellison shared Rainey's concern, saying he's spoken with suppliers and discussed the impact Trump proposed tariffs would have on product costs while acknowledging that "timing and details remain uncertain at this point."

Rainey told CNBC that nearly two-thirds of the items sold at Walmart are grown or assembled in the U.S. and that the company has tried to rely less on China, or any other country.

"We've been living under a tariff environment for seven years, so we're pretty familiar with that," Rainey said, citing levies placed during the first Trump administration. "Tariffs, though, are inflationary for customers, so we want to work with suppliers and with our own private brand assortment to try to bring down prices."

Earlier Tuesday Trump announced that he had nominated Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick as his pick for commerce secretary.

"He will lead our tariff and trade agenda, with additional direct responsibility for the Office of the United States Trade Representative," Trump said in a statement.

• Walmart, Other Companies Raise Concerns Over Tariffs
• Trump Picks Howard Lutnick for Commerce Chief