Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On Donald Trump’s Chaotic Trade War Causing Higher Prices For American Families As Walmart Announces Tariff-Related Price Hikes

Washington, D.C. – Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor after Walmart announced it plans to raise prices in stores across America because of Donald Trump’s tariffs, which are nothing more than a tax hike on consumers, and emphasized the importance of his legislation, introduced with Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD), requiring retailers to display the precise amount that tariffs are increasing the prices of their products. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

This morning, Donald Trump’s trade war strikes again. Walmart announced today it plans to raise prices in stores across America because of Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Here is what Walmart will say on its earnings call: “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.”

Walmart’s raising prices is a canary in the coal mine for the devastation Trump’s tariffs will have on Main Street. If a retailer as big as Walmart can’t escape the pain of tariffs, what chance do small business have? Their customers are inevitably going to see prices rise.

Walmart’s announcement is a glaring reminder that even after supposedly backtracking on some of his tariffs, significant damage will not go away. The chaos he’s unleashed is eating away at retailers, restaurants, small businesses, and middle class families’ wallets.

It is still estimated that these tariffs will cost thousands of dollars for each family each year.

Donald Trump’s tariffs are nothing more than a tax hike on consumers.

I am pushing legislation with Jamie Raskin to require large retailers to start displaying clearly to customers precisely how much tariffs are contributing to the total price of products.

Americans deserve transparency. If Trump's tariffs are causing prices to go up at no fault of the retailer, the American consumer ought to know it.

Walmart should start displaying, in their stores and online, how much tariffs actually contribute to the final price of their goods. So should all other big retailers.

America should know how Trump's tariffs are hurting them. People are beginning to understand it, but this display will just hit it home every time they buy a good.

It shows you how destructive and chaotic Donald Trump’s trade war has been. He should backtrack – totally backtrack – before we enter a recession.

Specific tariffs that deal with how China, the Chinese government, and the Chinese economy treat us – that's fine.

But not this crazy, go-after-everybody, poorly-put-together, and constantly changing tariff regime.

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