Walmart Warns Shoppers It’s Raising Prices on These 4 Groceries Due to Tariffs
"The magnitude of these increases is more than any retailer can absorb," Walmart's CFO said.
In unfortunate supermarket news, President Trump’s imposed global tariffs have caught up to Walmart. The big-box retailer, which was previously considered more “tariff-proof” than its competitors, confirmed, alongside its Q1 financial earnings report, that the company plans to raise prices on everyday grocery items, including avocados and bananas. Keep reading to find out how long you have before these price hikes take effect.
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Walmart remains optimistic about its full-year forecast, despite tariff-related obstacles.
First-quarter earnings for 2025 were “a little choppy,” company chief financial officer John David Rainey told CNBC. Dividends in February fell short, though March results provided some relief. April “was a lot stronger,” he added, and sales for May are projected to look “a lot more like April.”
Walmart reported a 1.6 percent increase and a 2.8 percent increase year-over-year in customer transactions and average ticket sales, respectively. The company produced $161.51 billion in revenue, a 2.5 percent uptick from Q1 2024. Same-store sales hiked 4.5 percent for Walmart U.S. and 6.7 percent for Sam’s Club.
Yet, Walmart’s earnings fell below Wall Street’s estimates. Overall revenue is $23 million short of projections. Furthermore, fiscal first-quarter net income stood at $4.49 billion, compared to $5.10 billion from the same period last year.
Despite this, Walmart remains optimistic about meeting its full-year forecast, part of which includes a 3 to 4 percent increase in sales growth. Additionally, the company said a 4.5 percent increase in fiscal second-quarter net sales is also within reach.
Walmart “declined to provide guidance for earnings per share or operating income growth because of fluctuating U.S. tariff policy,” reported CNBC.
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At Walmart, price hikes from tariffs will go into effect later this month.
However, try as they may, Walmart isn’t as “tariff-proof” as they once thought.
“We’re wired for everyday low prices, but the magnitude of these increases is more than any retailer can absorb,” Rainey told CNBC. “It’s more than any supplier can absorb.”
Rainey said Walmart shoppers are “discerning” and “mindful,” but also “a little concerned” about a potential storewide price surge. After months of savvy maneuvering—and eating tariff-related costs on the backend—that fear is about to become a reality.
In an interview with CNBC, Rainey confirmed that Walmart will be enforcing “higher prices” on four popular grocery items. These include bananas, avocados, coffee, and roses due to tariffs on Costa Rican, Peruvian, and Colombian imports.
“You’ll begin to see that, likely towards the tail end of this month, and then certainly much more in June,” he revealed.
Nearly one-third of Walmart’s inventory comes from countries that’ve been impacted by President Trump’s imposed tariffs. These include China, Mexico, Canada, Vietnam, and India. However, a temporary truce introduced earlier this week between America and China could reduce Chinese tariffs from 145 percent to 30 percent, reports The New York Times.
Nonetheless, businesses are still in a financial chokehold. “This is a little bit unprecedented in terms of the speed and magnitude in which the price increases are coming,” commented Rainey.
Walmart will continue to “play offense,” he added. But what does that look like? Although the company is raising prices on select items, Walmart “will absorb some of the higher prices from tariffs and expects suppliers will, too,” wrote CNBC.
