On Monday’s broadcast of Newsmax TV’s “The Record,” White House Council of Economic Advisers Chair Stephen Miran stated that “over time, Walmart will be able to get its Chinese suppliers and other suppliers to eat the tariffs” and “that’ll happen over time. In the short run, can there be some volatility in prices the way there was volatility in financial markets? Yeah. But, over time, we have all the leverage. We have all the cards. And that means, just like last time, China will eat the tariffs.”
Host Greta Van Susteren asked, “How do we reconcile the fact that, while getting manufacturing up, you’ve got like the CEO from Walmart saying that Walmart can’t keep up with the increased costs, which, of course, means the consumer, an everyday American who goes into a big store like Walmart. So, how do we address that?”
Miran answered, “I think it’s pretty obvious from the first term that there was no evidence, at all, of macroeconomic inflation as a result of the president’s policies. In fact, it was pretty clear that China paid for the tariffs in the first term and that inflation stayed low, inflation stayed very moderate in President Trump’s first term and it really took off during President Biden’s administration because of their reckless fiscal policies. But that’s besides the point. Now, in the last three months, we’ve now got three months in a row of below-expectation inflation coming out, core inflation, on an annual basis, in the last month, in April, was the lowest level since March of 2021. So, there’s no evidence so far in the historical record or in the recent data of an acceleration in inflation. Now, over time, Walmart will be able to get its Chinese suppliers and other suppliers to eat the tariffs by threatening to move elsewhere. That happens because United States importers are flexible about where we get stuff. We can either make stuff at home or we can import from other countries that treat us better. That leverage means that we can make others absorb the costs. Now, that’ll happen over time. In the short run, can there be some volatility in prices the way there was volatility in financial markets? Yeah. But, over time, we have all the leverage. We have all the cards. And that means, just like last time, China will eat the tariffs.”
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