The Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, admitted on Sunday that Walmart, the largest American retailer, could transmit some of President Donald Trump’s prices to his buyers through higher prices.
Bessent described his call with the CEO of the company one day after Trump warned Walmart to avoid prices of the prices at all and undertake to closely monitor what he does.
While doubts persist on Trump’s economic leadership, Bessente has pushed inflation problems, praised the uncertainty caused by Trump as a negotiation tactic for commercial discussions and rejectedDemotionOn Friday of the American government debt by the notes of Moody’s.
However, Walmart does not seem ready to “eat prices” in its entirety, as Trump insisted that the company and China would do it.
Bessent said he spoke on Saturday with Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, highlighting in two new interviews that he really thought that for Walmart customers was the drop in petrol prices. The gas is on an average of $ 3.18 per gallon, against a year ago, but also higher in last week, according to AAA.
“Walmart will absorb some of the prices, some may be transmitted to consumers,” said Bessent on CNN. “Overall, I would expect inflation to remain online. But I do not blame consumers to be sets after what happened to them for years under Biden”, a reference to inflation reaching a summit of four decades in June 2022 under the president of the time, Joe Biden, while the resumption of the pandemic, the government expenses and the Russian invasion of Ukraine costs.
Walmart did not comment on the description of Bessent of his conversation with McMillon.
In an article on social networks on Saturday morning, Trump said that Walmart should not charge his customers more money to compensate for new tariff costs. “I will watch, and your customers too !!!” He posted.
Bessent said Walmart when he calls on the results Thursday had been forced under federal regulations “to give the worst case so that they are not prosecuted”, suggesting in an NBC interview that price increases would not be serious in his opinion.
But Walmart leaders said last week that higher prices had started to appear on their shelves at the end of April and accelerated this month.
“We are wired to maintain the low prices, but there is a limit to what we can bear, or any retailer elsewhere,” said the director John David Rainey on Thursday.
Bessent argued that the demotion of ratings was a “late indicator” because the financial markets had already assessed the costs of a total federal debt of approximately 36 billions of dollars. However, the tax plan beingPushed by Trumpwould add more than around 3.3 billions of dollars to deficits during the next decade, including an increase of $ 600 billion in 2027, according to the Committee for a responsible federal budget.
The Treasury Secretary argued that deficits would not be a problem because the economy would increase faster than the accumulation of debt, reducing its increase as the size of the overall economy.
Most independent analyzes are skeptical about the statements of the administration according to which it can reach an average growth of 3%, as Trump 2018 tax cuts failed to do so. These Trump’s first tax reductions have strengthened economic growth before the pandemic, but they also increased the budget deficit in relation to previous estimates of the Congressional Budget Office.
On prices, the Trump administration is still trying to determine the rates with around 40 major business partners before a deadline in July. It is also in the first stadiums of a 90 -day negotiation with China, after having agreed a week ago to reset the prices on this country from 145% to 30% so that talks can continue.
Bessent said that any concern about the prices of small businesses most likely reflected the higher rate previously billed in China. However, uncertainty was a major obstacle for consumers and businesses trying to make spending plans in the weeks, months and years to come.
“Strategic uncertainty is a negotiation tactic,” said Bessent. “So, if we were too certain about other countries, then they would play us in negotiations.”
Bessent appeared on “Meet the Press” by NBC and “State of the Union” by CNN.
This story was initially presented on Fortune.com
