How Trump’s Presidency Could Impact Walmart, Target and Costco Prices
Written by
Travis Woods
Edited by
Molly Sullivan
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The first two months of President Donald Trump’s second administration have been a busy time, with the issuance, retraction and pausing of multiple tariffs against America’s trade partners and Trump’s promise of sweeping tax cuts in the future. Meanwhile, Trump has pressed forward with his promise of deportations, and the threat of more inflation continues to loom across the country. Any one of these factors could greatly impact such large American retailers as Walmart, Target and Costco; all of them together are almost sure to.
So, just how could Trump’s second administration impact these big-box retailers?
Tariffs
After a number of false starts and pauses, Trump has instituted a 25% tariff on imports of steel and aluminum on all countries, and has even threatened to up them to 50% for Canada (although that has been paused). This has forced the European Union to issue counter-tariffs on $28 billion worth of American product, per Yahoo Finance. Meanwhile, China has placed 15% duties on American farming products such as pork and chicken. Per Business Insider, a result of these tariffs is inevitable price hikes at retail stores — businesses such as Walmart, Target and Costco have to pay more for imported goods with tariffs attached, and thus charge the American consumer more to make up the difference. Higher prices (especially for electronics and grocery items) equals fewer shoppers, and could negatively impact big-box stores.
Tax Cut Extensions and Deregulation
As Business Insider reported, the president is expected to extend most of the tax cuts he instituted in his first administration’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (many of which would otherwise expire this year). These tax cuts will most likely allow most American taxpayers to have much more spending money and a larger disposable income. Further, as is the case with most business-friendly Republican administrations, Business Insider expects Trump’s iteration of the Federal Trade Commission to be far more “deal-friendly” with corporations such as Walmart and Target. While tariffs might hurt large retailers, deregulation would likely soften that blow.
Immigration
The U.S. Immigration and Customers Enforcement (ICE) has followed Trump’s mandate to gather and deport undocumented immigrants from the country. While this may at first seem to have little to do with big-box retailers, there would indeed be economic consequences to businesses. Business Insider noted that decreased immigration would cut down on the skilled workers these retailers need to operate, and that deportations would decrease community populations that these retailers need to thrive.
In all, the heft of Trump’s impact upon stores like Walmart, Target and Costco will take weeks if not months to measure, good and bad, but one thing is for certain — there will be an impact.
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