These liars can’t even get their stories straight…

“President Trump and his top economic aides have repeatedly said that Americans will not pay the cost of tariffs, in fact last week [Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick] said people have to drop the ‘silly argument’ that consumers would pay the cost,” a reporter said to Leavitt during her press briefing.

“But over the weekend, as you know, the president posted that Walmart should ‘eat the tariffs and not charge the valued customer anything, I’ll be watching and so will your costumers,’” the reporter continued.

“So does he acknowledge that if companies don’t absorb the full cost, Americans will have to pay?” the reporter asked.

“Well, first of all the CEO of Walmart made those comments about the tariffs on an earnings call where CEOs I believe are legally obligated to give the most dire warnings and forecasts to their investors and stakeholders,” replied Leavitt.

“The reality is, as the president has always maintained, Chinese producers will be absorbing the cost of these tariffs and that is why China was so quick to hustle to the negotiating table with the United States of America,” she continued.

“They need our markets. They need our consumers and I would again point you to the inflation report that came out last week showing that inflation is declining in large part because energy prices are dropping across the board in this country because of the president’s robust energy agenda that he has taken since January 20th,” said Leavitt.

“So the president is committed to insuring that prices remain low for American consumers and he maintains the position that foreign countries will absorb these tariffs,” she added.

“What does he mean by ‘I’ll be watching’ Walmart?” pressed the reporter.

“Uh, he’ll be watching, seeing what they’re doing,” said Leavitt.

As usual, Leavitt is assuming that MAGA supporters are too stupid to think these issues through completely. If Trump is calling for Walmart to “eat the tariffs” it clearly shows that the increased costs are being passed along to consumers. Otherwise, there would have been no need for his outburst.

“Walmart should STOP trying to blame Tariffs as the reason for raising prices throughout the chain,” Trump wrote on Truth Social over the weekend. “Between Walmart and China they should, as is said, ‘EAT THE TARIFFS,’ and not charge valued customers ANYTHING. I’ll be watching, and so will your customers!!!”

If China were really shouldering the burden of these tariffs, there would be no increased costs for Walmart to pass along. Of course, the reality is and always has been that tariffs are a tax on consumers.

Tariffs aren’t collected until the products arrive in America, at which point companies like Walmart are forced to pay them. They in turn raise their shelf prices to make up for the additional import costs.

“The magnitude and speed at which these prices are coming to us is somewhat unprecedented in history,” Walmart’s CFO John David Rainey told The Wall Street Journal last week.

The company revealed that its profits dropped during the first quarter of 2025 from $5.10 billion to $4.45 billion. They will be raising prices this month and early this summer.

“We will do our best to keep our prices as low as possible, but given the magnitude of the tariffs, even at the reduced levels announced this week, we aren’t able to absorb all the pressure given the reality of narrow retail margins,” said Walmart CEO Doug McMillon.

Donald Trump and Karoline Leavitt can project their fantasy vision of reality out to MAGA land all they want. The rest of us are stuck living in the real world where prices are skyrocketing thanks to these destructive tariffs.