China Pressures Walmart After Trump Imposes Higher Tariffs

Walmart is caught in the middle of an escalating trade war between the United States and China, John Liu and Juliana Liu reported for CNN.

Chinese officials said that they had met with Walmart executives following reports that it had pressured Chinese suppliers for discounts to cope with rising tariffs imposed by Donald Trump. I Photo: Walmart Canada

Chinese officials said that they had met with executives from the U.S. retail giant following reports that it had pressured Chinese suppliers for discounts to cope with rising tariffs imposed by Donald Trump.

"Our relevant departments have reached out to Walmart to further understand the situation, and the company has provided an explanation," He Yongqian, a spokeswoman for the Commerce Ministry, said.

CCTV’s official social media account, Yuyuantantian, recently wrote in a post that China had summoned Walmart for a meeting. "Walmart’s demand for Chinese suppliers to bear the full tariff burden is unreasonable and disrupts fair competition and the international trade order," the post stated.

Trump doubled tariffs on all Chinese imports to 20% as of last week. In response, China announced a fresh round of retaliatory tariffs covering U.S. agricultural imports, which took effect this week.

Many businesses are struggling under Trump’s chaotic tariff policies, which have heightened trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies.

Retailers have told CNN that they may have to raise prices at a time when many customers are already feeling financial pressure and the pinch of inflation.

Bloomberg reported that Walmart was trying to find a solution to its tariff woes by asking Chinese vendors to cut prices by 10% to offset U.S. levies. China may take punitive action against Walmart for doing so.