Kevin O'Leary, one of Donald Trump's biggest allies, says top retailers will not listen to the president and will hike prices following tariffs

While entrepreneur and Shark Tank personality Kevin O'Leary has been an ally of US president Donald Trump, he is splitting with Trump on the economic effect of tariffs, as per a report.

Kevin O'Leary Pushes Back on Donald Trump's Tariff Comments

In an interview with The Hill recently, O'Leary disagreed with Trump's insistence that retailers "eat the tariffs" rather than charge consumers, and pointed out that it was unrealistic, as per DailyBeast.

The Shark Tank star said, “This idea that the president says, ‘Listen, retailers, eat the tariffs.’ That’s not going to happen,” quoted DailyBeast.


ALSO READ: It’s not just Microsoft, Google, or Amazon — top European companies have also laid off a massive number of employees since April; here’s what you need to know

His comments followed Trump's public reaction to Walmart announcing it would increase prices in reaction to the tariffs on foreign imports from places such as China, Mexico, and Vietnam, according to the report.

The US president wrote on his social media site Truth Social, “Walmart should STOP trying to blame Tariffs as the reason for raising prices throughout the chain,” and added, “Walmart made BILLIONS OF DOLLARS last year, far more than expected. Between Walmart and China they should, as is said, ‘EAT THE TARIFFS,’ and not charge valued customers ANYTHING,” as quoted by dailyBeast.

Final Trade Deals Will Be Key

While, the 70-year-old, has been a frequent Trump administration defender, but now he pointed out that, “There’s going to be some distribution of the pain between increased prices, and retailers will take some of the hit, but it really depends what the hit is,” quoted DailyBeast. Though O‘Leary agreed that tariff rates are still being negotiated, he emphasized that, “We don’t know. Is it 10 percent? 20 percent? 25 percent? What is it? Nobody knows,” DailyBeast quoted.

The Canadian-born businessman even anticipated that retailers like Walmart would lobby the administration over the tariffs, and called it “the beginning of a negotiation,” as per the report.

O’Leary said, “I really think that this is kind of like jawboning between the retailer and Trump, but that’s it,” and also pointed out that trade agreements that finalize the administration’s stance on tariffs would help retailers navigate how to handle the additional cost, quoted DailyBeast.

He also mentioned that, “What we really want to get is a final of all these [trade] agreements around the world. Notably with the Europeans, the Indians, the Japanese, Canada, Mexico, and China‚” as quoted in the report.

FAQs

Why is Kevin O’Leary speaking out against Trump’s tariff comments?
Because he believes it’s unrealistic to expect retailers to cover the cost of tariffs without raising prices for customers.

What does “eat the tariffs” mean anyway?
It means Trump wants companies to take on the extra cost from tariffs themselves, instead of passing it on to consumers through price hikes.