Retailers wont swallow Trumps eat the tariffs demand for much longer before hiking prices

The retail industry is alerting President Trump that they can’t “eat” his tariffs forever – and price increases are likely to hit in the coming weeks, On The Money has learned.Whether this gets translated into higher official inflation numbers is anyone’s guess at this point.But for many items enjoyed by Americans who like cheap goods brought in from abroad – a majority of them from China – these things will soon be getting a lot less cheap.The warning to the president came weeks before his now-famous remarks over Walmart’s announced plans to pass through tariff costs to consumers, where in his own understated way, Trump shouted on social media that the discount retailer should “EAT THE TARIFFS.”Walmart was the first out of the gate about its need to raise prices.

However, Home Depot on Tuesday said it will continue to eat tariffs, though sources in the retail industry doubt that will last forever given the tight margins most retailers operate under.When the price increases begin to spread, that could set up an interesting catfight between the president and a huge chunk of the business community.The president believes Walmart, like many other big US companies, is a highly profitable company and they should all do a solid for the American people as corporate America adjusts to his new trade policy that slaps a 10% levy on every country, plus additional taxes on certain goods – and significantly higher tariffs on unscrupulous trading partners like China.No one is doubting China’s intransigence on trade (trade-secret theft, currency manipulation and a lot more), of course.But Trump’s “eat the tariff” demand was a bit much for your humble correspondent, who has covered Trump Inc.

for decades and has never seen him eat a cost when it came to his business dealings.Quite the opposite, actually.Plus, the sweep of the Trump trade policy is so dramatic that retailers who source some goods mainly from China (think nearly every baby product) are...