The answer is you, of course.
Walmart Pricing
CNBC reports Here’s where Walmart prices are changing — and staying the same — as Trump’s tariffs hit
The nation’s largest retailer warned in May that it would have to raise prices for its shoppers as President Donald Trump’s new duties drive up the cost of many imported goods. About two months later, some household items on Walmart’s shelves have higher prices, according to a CNBC analysis.
CNBC tracked prices of about 50 products across merchandise categories including apparel, electronics, toys and groceries over seven weeks at Walmart’s Secaucus, New Jersey, location. About a dozen of the items CNBC followed increased in price during that time, including a frying pan, a pair of jeans and a car seat, according to the analysis. Many of those items are manufactured in countries that face significant tariff rates.
While nationwide inflation data had seen a muted effect from tariffs in recent months, that showed some signs of changing in June. Though the consumer price index increased by 0.3% for the month and 2.7% year over year, the prices of tariff-sensitive segments like apparel and household furnishings rose at higher rates of 0.4% and 1%, respectively, from May.
“We’re wired for everyday low prices, but the magnitude of these increases is more than any retailer can absorb,” Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey said in an interview with CNBC. The discounter’s comment sparked criticism from the White House, with Trump telling the company in a social media post to “EAT THE TARIFFS.”
The price of a 12-piece set of pots and pans from Beautiful, a private-label kitchenware brand that’s exclusive to Walmart and co-founded by Drew Barrymore, rose from $99 to $149. A 12-inch frying pan from Beautiful climbed from $24.97 to $31.97.
In addition, the price of a Graco convertible stroller and car seat increased in price from $199.99 (then noted as a Walmart rollback, or limited-time discount from the $249 original price) to $299.
Some items’ packaging offered clues that tariffs could play a role in the hikes. The Beautiful pots and pans and Graco car seat are all made in China, according to labels on their packaging. Trump has put new 30% tariffs on goods imported from the country this year.
Levi’s CFO, Harmit Singh, told CNBC in an interview that most of Levi’s goods come from countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia. Goods from all of those countries currently face 10% tariffs, and Trump has proposed higher rates for some of those nations as of Aug. 1.
Tags of the signature jeans sold by Walmart, which came in multiple styles and washes, said they were made in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Tanzania and Lesotho.
Here’s how much prices rose in some categories as of the week ended May 31, relative to the week ended March 8, according to Circana data:
- Juvenile products, cribs and furniture: +23 to 27%
- Polo or golf shirts: +21%
- Plush toys: +19%
- Casual dinnerware: +23%
- Electric toothbrushes: +12%
- Televisions: +12%
Good News on Barbies
However, there were price decreases at Walmart, too: Mattel-owned Barbie Swim dolls dropped in price from $7.97 to to $5.97. The Barbies are made in Indonesia, according to their packaging. Mattel did not respond to a request about the reasons behind the price drop.
Dolls, including Barbies, are one of the items that have come up in tariff policy debates after Mattel said it may have to raise prices. Trump said that American children “could be very happy” with fewer dolls under his trade proposals.
Increasingly Clear Answer
There are exceptions of course. One of them is Toyota. Bur exceptions are not the rule.
Even Truflation Sees It
Truflation Points
- Tariffs haven’t hit full force yet, so we’re not out of the clear — prices can still react, and cracks in the economy are growing.
- Goods inflation accelerating — frontloaded imports delaying full tariff impact.
- Tariffs from 20–40% hit in August — inflation risks skew heavily upward.
Kathy Jones
Walmart Raises Prices
More on Walmart
Our Libertarian Newfound BLS Believer Disagrees
Tariff inflation is “nonexistent” says Peter St Onge, Ph.D.
Here’s a Better Assessment
“This dude is going to run the economy into the ground then blame Jerome Powell.”
You can 100% book that.
Pertinent Flashbacks
Related Posts
July 15: Year-Over-Year CPI Jumps 0.3 Percentage Points to 2.7 percent
Month-over-month and year-over-year the CPI rose 0.3 percent.
July 15: Real Hourly Earnings of Private Workers Decline 0.1 Percent in June
Inflation-adjusted wages fell in June. A decline in hours worked makes it worse.
July 16, 2025: Within the Benign PPI Report Is a Stew of Tariff-Related Inflation
The producer price index was unchanged in June, in an interesting way.
July 18, 2025: Insurers Request Huge Obamacare Rate Hikes, Many Over 20 Percent
Medical care costs are surging already. A big leap is coming.
– The answer is you, of course. > Not so fast! We have not even gotten close to a point of claiming “Who Pays” & “For What” This is far from over, and at the moment looks very much in Favor of the Buyer (US or ME anyway). I see “Savings & Earnings potentially coming in all sorts of various ways. I intend on capitalizing on every one that I can. I will dismiss those I can’t, and/or find more cost effective alternatives. Where I can’t, I will go without, wherever possible.
– CNBC reports: The nation’s largest retailer warned in May that it would have to raise prices for its shoppers. > They won’t do so, and don’t have to. I live very close to one, and have for a longtime. I have worked there, and know many people that have worked there (MGR’s) for decades! They say no such thing, and prices have been coming down on all sorts of items. I shop for the same products there every week, and my bill has decreased over the past few Months! Busy as always!!!
– While nationwide inflation data had seen a muted effect from tariffs in recent months. > Hmm… Can’t have it both ways, and this looks like what I have been seeing. A Muted, or to say: (Mute or subdued; softened), Effect! This is due to the small increase, if any at all.
>> These can mostly be absorbed by the Sellers so far, and looks like it may stay that way. I have been suggesting this for the Union Hits that will, and are coming! Not due to Tariffs, but rather the High Salaries and High Benefits COST to the Companies. They will have to take hits to their wallet, or be replaced, and it’s truly that simple.
They have been placated for Decades and it’s time to give a lot of it back. Besides, when EV’s hit strong, and they will in a couple years, say “Good-Bye” to tens of thousands of Union Jobs in Automobile Manufacturers in America. Don’t need the skill set, or People anymore, At All!!!
>>> Please STOP with the Cherry Picking of loose Data!!! It’s disgraceful and cheap!!
None of the manufactures we deal with are absorbing tariffs. They are passing along and we are passing along, all the way until the end user.
If these ill-fated tariffs are permitted to persist for any extended period of time, there is no question that it will be the consumer who pays the majority of them.
What about the Non-ill-fated? You know, by far the Majority of the products with Tariffs…
Ah, intentional cognitive dissonance, it is the new all-American pie filling. Stu “patrioting” there
Walmart will only start eating the tariffs when folks stop buying and they have to drop prices to bring em back in. It’s time for consumers to stand down for awhile.
They could have done that after COVID, but spent like drunken sailors, and bitched a lot. Standing down is not the American way.
They would have if the government had not handed out all the printed cash for them to spend.
Too bad Trump couldn’t call them the Trump Stimmy Checks – you know his ego wanted that
It’s almost like we have been trained for 50 years to be disposable consumerist monkeys
Consumers rush to stores like Walmart during these times. The traffic has picked up hugely where I live. They are beginning to stand down, and are buying at places where cost is much cheaper, but not so much being spotted if you will… hey it’s true! I have seen sharper dressed in that increase for sure!!!
It seems companies going to try to use tariffs as an excuse to really rip off the American consumer.
Look at Drew Barrymore’s 12 piece set of pots and pans. Going from 99 to 149. Its a 51% increase in the final price to the consumer but the the item coming from China does not cost 99 dollars (original price). That’s the retail price. The actual price from China is probably on the order of 40 tops. The rest (59 on the old price) is going to be shipping costs + Walmart profit + any other middle man profit which is not subject to tariffs. So to add 50 to the cost means that the tariff must be well in excess of 100%. Are they really that high right now or is this just an excuse to rip off the consumer.
The coffee prices are likely entirely due to the fall of the dollar (10%) making it more expensive to buy the beans from Brazil etc. I doubt much of that increase is tariff related.
The tariffs on Brazil go into effect Aug. 1.
Maybe…
look at the increase in corporate profits over the last 3 years. The media got people to believe the government was causing inflation, all the while big corporations were raising prices with little increase in costs.
Blame the correct people ; the 535 in washing DC, spending IOU’s into
the next 40 years on promise’s that will not be kept!
I would agree, but to a select few imo. There are companies with high set cost, not easily lowered, and may be in this position very soon, but they will seek out the answers necessary. Others will just cut back a bit in employees and that should do it. They will rehire when it’s possible to do so. A shift or Adjustments will have to be made initially, but don’t take that as a firm commitment to anything, as this is all very new, and things will have to be worked out, and they will. We just may not know how just yet, because we still don’t know why…
You might be paying it, I don’t buy anything made in China, ever, never have and never will. But hey, I’m a producer, not a consumer like most others, and when things break I repair them. Did I mention that I’m old and most of the made in USA things I have still are working fine after 40 or 50 years?
Your car, refrigerator, washer/dryer, TV, computer, and HVAC have all lasted 40-50 years without any Chinese parts?
Congrats, that’s some real American gumption
Liberal Me says: Fuck Trump.
MAGA ME says: THEY are paying (Sticking it to countries.
The Non-Voter (REAL ME) says: FUCK ’em ALL!
What has been the cost been of losing all those American factory jobs because… low prices? For each action there is an equal and opposite reaction. What has the cost been of being the world’s reserve currency? How much longer can that go on?
Cycles rise and cycles fall. Thus the year of Jubilee came around every 50 years. Armstrong’s economic confidence cycle is divided into two 50 year periods, a public wave and a private wave. The Kondratieff cycle is also a 50 years
The globe is awash in astronomical debt. No country wants a strong currency. In the face of serious deflation, Roosevelt devalued the dollar, repricing it against gold. Reagan’s 1985 Plaza Accord, devalued the dollar.
The CNBC article is, as usual, cherry-picked and misleading. I don’t know about Walmart’s store in Secaucus nor why they only tracked 50 items (of which only 1/4 seem to have higher prices), but I do know that Walmart’s car seat prices have, on average, declined since January 1.
You can track Walmart’s online prices using AisleGopher. “car Seat” search gives around 15 hits of which more have seen price drops than increases. And, BTW most car seats are much cheaper than the one CNBC cherry-picked. So the impact of tariffs on car seat prices at Walmart is a nothing burger so far. No hardship at all!
Here’s the link:
https://aislegopher.com/Home/search?query=Car+seat
Spot On!
~20% of what Walmart sell is made in the USA. Let’s have someone track those items. I can name 4 food items (made in USA) that I buy from Walmart that have gone up in price by 8-20% in the last 45 days.
~70% of what Walmart sells is made in China. No doubt Walmart will have to raise prices. The question is how opportunistic are they being? If they raise the prices on all sorts of things 33%, but could get away with 25% and still maintain their normal profit margin, then I’d call that being OVERLY opportunistic. When it’s all said and done, we simply will never know if Walmart is being on the greedy side. I know this much. I buy about 5 things regularly from ALDI that I check prices on at Walmart. ALDI’s prices are anywhere from 15% to 30% less.
10% of what Walmart sells is from other countries. Honestly, I could care less about this stuff. China is the 800 lb gorilla in the room that must be tamed.
Waiting for August 1st to see what TACO does.
Lets see if the tariffs stand up to the courts…
My Local Wal Mart is taking advantage of circumstance’s, also jacking up $$ on Non imported goods.
I sell Mfg. rep lines, they are doing the same thing
I enjoy watching Trump’s neophyte press secretary tell us how great the tariffs are and how much revenue, otherwise known as taxes, the government is generating. Of course in her mind none of this will result in higher prices at the end of the business cycle.
Not only will it raise prices, tariff (tax) revenue will not even cover the interest on the increased debt of the BBB.
What are the profit margins for corps with foreign manuf vs domestic? What has the trend been recently post-Covid? Are consumers still buying at same levels? If so, why and how?
What is your thinking behind your questions? Are you arguing for corporate socialism, i.e. fascism, where companies stay in private hands but the government sets their policies and plans? As a stockholder I’m hoping that the companies that I’m invested in remain as profitable as possible, regardless of where they manufacture their products.
Then you also need to hope that the customers (of the companies you’re invested in) continue to grow more prosperous. When your companies outsource their production their domestic customer base tends to wither. That was papered over by cranking up deficits and credit, mortgaging the houses and the whole country to keep the shopping sprees going, but that road is ending.
During Trumps first term, profits at importers fell about 30% and the stock market fell around 20%. This happened as importers tried to eat the tariffs. Margins and profits fell. When they could not and covid hit they were free to raise prices and more than caught up and inflation took off. Margins rocketed higher!
It is normal for there to be a delay for prices to rise when tariffs are applied. There has been huge front running and bringing inventories to high levels. Copper for instance is easily stored and does not deteriorate. Coffee? Not so much as it loses flavor as it ages.
Trump is an idiot for attacking the Fed when his tariffs are directly responsible for inflation forcing the Fed’s hand in the opposite direction.
The bond market is the tell ~ it is not signaling any need for lower rates.
>
Dem business owners who are against Trump should raise prices as much as possible.
This will help send inflation higher, thereby increasing interest rates and make Trump look bad.
This will come to fruition in the midterm elections. 5-D chess!
The manufacturer “pays” indirectly IF it agrees to drop its prices to the importer. The manufacturer may experience lower sales if end consumers don’t want to pay increased prices due to tariffs.
Importer pays the tariff and tries to pass it along to the consumer. The importer also tries to get the manufacturer to lower its prices. If the importer’s inventory increase due to consumer demand lessening, the importer will have to reduce its prices and may take losses.
The consumer indirectly pays the tariff through higher prices IF they continue to buy imported items. Some consumers may decide to stop using a product altogether.
So simply stop buying the products they want and/or need. Let the government control the market and what you can or can’t purchase and at what price. Great plan.
Walmart front runs the tariffs if merchandise price increases happened in May. Trump tariffs started in early April. If goods from China were ordered in April, they take one month to arrive in So Cal, another month to clear customs then ship to their distribution centers and arrive at their retail stores if everything goes according to Hoyle.
This is identical to what happened after the Covid reopening but not only at Walmart. It also applied for most of the supply side.
I would have to see some solid evidence that any of Trump’s tariffs are actually having the effect of bringing back manufacturing to the USA or significantly helping American manufacturers increase domestic sales or foreign exports. What little evidence I have seen shows very little evidence that Walmart will soon be filling their shelves with American made products.
Manufacturing returning to the US in scale would require two things:
Neither are present in the current, manic, short-term, speculation oriented, financialized, US economy. Significant on-shoring in today’s environment is a pipe-dream.
If your strategy is to to replace US companies and workers by Asian companies who pay their workers a lot less thereby putting your own citizens out of work and paying your own employees so little that your workforce has to be subsidized by government handouts then I esteem that whatever you say is devoid of sincerity and is only a self-serving tactic aimed to putting off the demise of your shell-game off a little bit more.
By all means keep jobs local and get rid off those migrant workers. That outta tamp inflation down! Or maybe we can appeal to the stock holders of those US companies. Maybe they will be ok with making less profit.
Don’t take into consideration the devaluing of the dollar over the past 25 years by way of the Fed’s easy money policies, which has substantially widened the pay differential between domestic workers and foreign workers as employers have had to raise their wages in order to keep pace with this hidden tax.
Devalued against what? Not against other currencies. It is near its high against them. Against gold? Surely but the Dollar really got devalued against bitcoin. Is that the hidden tax you were talking about?
*Sigh*….Looks like I’m paying them. I’m a Walmart shopper, love their house brand of coffee.
The car seat is an eye-popper. An example of tariffs causing real hardship.
Then don’t complain when you or those you love lose their jobs. Let’s just say you and they weren’t good enough so the loss of your livelihood is merited. It’s Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” so don’t take it personally.
Why do you have to be so hateful, Doug, when someone disagrees with your POV?
Of course, it’s not personal. When you go out to eat tonight at Restaurant X, are you purposely trying to punish Restaurant Y and put their workers out of jobs? Or are you just spending your own money the best for you and giving Restaurant X some valuable business?
Let’s say I dislike the view some people have that price is all that matters and nothing else counts. They use it to justify the most harmful policies with a clear conscience. In that they resemble the most woke of the woke. They are two peas in a pod.
So wanting to have as many non-taxed consumer choices as possible is woke now? Wow, you’re really starting to stretch your credulity for Trump’s specific tariff policies.
And who said “price is all that matters”? Many of use would just prefer to not have one person decide single-handedly which of our consumer choices – based on MANY attributes – gets taxed differently
And it’s like you don’t understand basic economic trade theory.
My uncle wants to be an American soybean farmer because he likes it and thinks he’s good at it. I don’t have a personal need for such soybeans. But when I buy a Chinese child car seat from Walmart, I get what I need, Walmart and its US employees get a cut, and someone in China gets my US dollars.
Those greenbacks aren’t good for much but wealthy Americans lighting cigars and people in foreign countries buying American goods/services/assets they want. If some of them buy from my uncle, he benefits as well since they have my American dollars from the car seat sale to send back to him for soybeans exports.
What’s so bad about that? And more importantly, where is the economic trade theory wrong?
You see price you pay as the only thing that matters. If you can’t see further than that then you don’t understand economic history.
Economic history theory shows the value of trade in bringing countries together. 85 years ago, Japan was bombing Pearl Harbor. Now they are a significant trading partner with many Japanese companies investing in the US. What are the odds now Japan will turn to bombing us again in the future?
If your knowledge of economic history only encompasses the post-WW II “Free Trade” Era then of course you would take that line but economic history goes way back further than that. I suggest you learn about former eras’ economies before making statements as if they are Gospel.
Typical Doug response. Put up your own economic theorical construct. Have someone else put up an valid alternative and then deflect, deflect, insult.
I didn’t quote the Gospel. I gave one century-old example of standard economic theory to discuss. (I could give dozens of examples, but don’t want to try to dominate the posting). And then you refuse to try to refute that real-world example of the benefit of trading with other countries, and turn to insults instead.
So maybe instead of reading so much about economic history more than a century old, you should read up on some rhetorical strategies. I noticed you posted nine different times on this particular post, and EVERY single one of your posts is net negative on comments. So either your economic reasoning or style of communicating those ideas to others is not good. Maybe you could use your time more wisely to reflect (or deflect) on those facts. Good luck to you
That price change is only a hardship if all the other car seat choices also went up in price. Not enough info here to draw conclusions.
I buy lots of items when they are on sale at a substantial discount. Many items like Pots & Pans are purchased when they are on sale. Customers will pay a slightly higher price; not as much as shown here. Producers & retailers also pay a part of the price increase.
Great and when the full price goes up 10% so will the on sale price .
Car seats are purchased when the baby is due….no waitin’ around for sales.
Like I said ….hardship.
An argument goes that taxes and by extension tariffs do not affect GDP nor are they inflationary because the funds go to the government. Government spending contributes the same as private spending to GDP and government deficit spending, which is reduced by the additional income causes inflation. I won’t argue with the premise, but I believe it does not account for influences on the economy. Increasing taxes reduce capital available for investment by the private sector. there is precious few government ‘investments’ that yield a positive return whereas private sector investments have a history of being mostly successful. Same is true for import duties, but they also cause lower import volumes due to end user higher costs which in the end slows the economy and lowers revenue to the Government.
So far, we have experienced front running the proposed tariffs in the form of accelerated importing and some early timing of consumer purchases of goods from autos to coffee. Sooner or later, this activity distortion will end, and the true effects of all the changes will start being more obvious in economic statistical trends, even if the absolute veracity of the reports is questionable. While the short term is looking tolerable, longer term the tune may be more melancholy. Time will sort it out.
Of course I’m paying them.
Who did you think was going to pay them?
When corporations have to pay taxes or tariffs they extract the money from their customers as they are not allowed to print the money and borrowing the money at interest would not be profitable.
Why can’t folks think these things through?
Then again, it’s very apparent that the Executive branch and the Congress can’t think them through.
Most of my new inflated bills are still in the mail, so to speak.
How do you know that you are?
It must still be Biden’s fault. Wait till we get all of the those immigrants out. Then you’ll see prices really come down! Hahahahaha!
What does Biden have to do with it?
That’s TACO’s go to when faced with reality.
Yer a wee numpty fella
And you wear skirts.
No, they don’t WANT to think them through. What they want is to pass the Republican agenda of increased defense spending to benefit the MIC and reduced taxes for movers and shakers.
Anything they do is to achieve these end goals.
I would not be surprised if Trump was being blackmailed by his in-laws on behalf of Bibi. They have a long, amicable family history and common loyalty before Ivanka came along.
As far as Barbie dolls go, DHS Barbie and AG Barbie were unfortunately made in U.S.
Wait for the bobble-head versions.
They will be made in Vietnam.
I would guess the son in laws are simply the messengers. Bibi is the likely blackmailer. People seem to be ignoring the Katie Jonson lawsuit in 2016 just weeks before the election. She was represented by Gloria Allred’s daughter Lisa Bloom. The 29 minute KJ interview which can be seen online is quite disturbing. From my research and observations of the taped interview, it seems to be as credible as the other Epstein accusers. If you listen to the video and believe it, you must realize that the Mossad certainly has the videos of the 4 instances. No President could survive the disclosure of such a video. My hope is that the accusations are false. If they are not, Trump is beyond compromised.
Trump is beyond compromised and no one seems to want to take responsibility for removing his from office!
That is what I find to be most disturbing…