Walmart warns tariffs will push up prices for US shoppers
Retail giant reports best first-quarter sales growth for nine years, but warns US-China trade war will hit pockets
Washington — Walmart said on Thursday that prices for shoppers will go up due to higher tariffs on imports from China as the world’s largest retailer reported its best comparable sales growth for the first quarter in nine years. Walmart shares, which have gained 7% so far in 2019, rose as much as 4.1% on Thursday in New York, the biggest intraday gain in almost three months. US President Donald Trump increased tariffs on $200bn worth of Chinese imports to 25% from 10% last week. The move is widely expected to raise the prices of thousands of products including clothing, furniture and electronics. China retaliated on Monday, though on a smaller scale. Walmart CFO Brett Biggs said that higher tariffs will result in increased prices for consumers. He said the company will seek to ease the pain, in part by trying to obtain products from different countries and by working with suppliers’ “costs structures to manage higher tariffs”. Moody’s analyst Charlie O’Shea said the potential imp...
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