Walmart, the nation's largest retailer, is sounding the alarm on President Donald Trump's trade war, saying it is "very concerned" about the possible impacts the newly announced tariffs will have on American consumers.
In a letter to US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, the company — which employs 2.3 million people worldwide, and 1.5 million in the US alone — said the immediate impact of the fresh tariffs "will be to raise prices on consumers and tax American business and manufacturers," according to a report from CNN Money.
"As the largest retailer in the United States and a major buyer of U.S. manufactured goods, we are very concerned about the impacts these tariffs would have on our business, our customers, our suppliers and the U.S. economy as a whole," Walmart wrote, according to a separate report from Reuters.
CNN Money reports that in its letter — sent around two weeks ago — Walmart asked Lighthizer and the Trump administration to reconsider putting tariffs on Chinese-made consumer goods including: Christmas lights, shampoo, dog food, luggage, mattresses, handbags, backpacks, vacuum cleaners, bicycles, cooking grills, cable cords, and air conditioners.
The letter did not achieve that goal, with the administration pushing forward earlier this week with the imposition of tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods, totaling more than 5,000 different products.
"For months, we have urged China to change these unfair practices, and give fair and reciprocal treatment to American companies," Trump said in a statement at the time.