For many shoppers, particularly those in the heartland and rural America, Walmart is the go-to place for consumer goods and groceries. Founded in the early 1960s as an answer to department stores like Sears and Montgomery Ward, the chain grew from its mid-South roots by the 1980s. It became America’s dominant retailer by providing the lowest-priced goods possible. In the mid-1980s, it also pledged to buy more American products, believing it would help bolster an economy already seeing the first signs of offshoring.

But as the chain became a global company, one could see the transformation on Walmart’s shelves as more and more of its low-priced products were stamped with “Made in China,” thanks in no small measure to China becoming part of the World Trade Organization in 2001 because of Bill Clinton. Perhaps that vow to feature American-made products died with founder Sam Walton back in 1992, but in its defense, Walmart has had to maintain its slim margins amidst competition from slightly more upscale retailers such as Kohl’s or Target. Not to mention the rapid expansion of more localized retailer Dollar General, whose stores have become ubiquitous in small-town America — places too small to support a Walmart, which tend to be found only in the county seats and larger cities. With a Dollar General in town, rural residents no longer need to drive for half an hour just to buy groceries and staples.

Bearing that in mind, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon unintentionally began a social media war with President Donald Trump when his “draconian” view on earnings based on high Chinese tariffs was revealed. “We will do our best to keep our prices as low as possible,” said McMillon in an earnings call. “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.”

“We’re positioned to manage the cost pressure from tariffs as well or better than anyone,” added McMillon. “But even at the reduced levels, the higher tariffs will result in higher prices.”

The prediction of higher prices led President Trump to write a lengthy response, essentially demanding that Walmart “eat the tariffs.” In his usual heavy-on-the-CAPS style, Trump took to his Truth Social outlet to warn Walmart: “STOP trying to blame Tariffs as the reason for raising prices throughout the chain. Walmart made BILLIONS OF DOLLARS last year, far more than expected.”

To those who aren’t big fans of tariffs, this declaration was another reason to question the wisdom of Trump’s policy. Likening the “eat the tariff” demand to something Kamala Harris would have done, the editors of The Wall Street Journal decried the “bizarro world” of Trump’s economic policies so far in term number two. “Mr. Trump’s flip-flop on price controls is a rebuttal of his own previous tariff claims,” they snapped. “For months he’s said that foreign producers pay the full cost of tariffs. But now he’s admitting that Walmart, an American retailer, will have to eat some of the costs or pass them on to Americans.” Piling on, the editors also noted that the president’s business acumen doesn’t extend to retail with its narrow profit margins, concluding, “Mr. Trump is trying to duck the political fallout for his misguided tariff policy by blaming everyone else. Americans are too smart to fall for it.”

Smart or not, those Americans who read The Washington Post got a similar earful, as they cherrypicked a quote Trump recently gave to Time Magazine — a quote a less-than-careful reader could infer was about Trump wanting to run Walmart, given the context of the Post’s story. “Trump’s view of his role was reflected in his recent comparison of the U.S. economy to a department store. ‘It’s a giant, beautiful store, and everybody wants to go shopping there. And on behalf of the American people, I own the store, and I set prices, and I’ll say, if you want to shop here, this is what you have to pay.’”

While bashing Trump using mainly left-wing voices, the Post’s Naftali Bendavid points out that other presidents like FDR and Richard Nixon have tried to be micromanagers of the economy. He concedes, “Trump is not the first president to take a direct hand in economic decisions, although that has generally happened when the country faced dire conditions.”

It could be argued, though, that we had some reasonably dire economic conditions under Joe Biden. We didn’t have reduced inflation under the Inflation Reduction Act, nor did we create the number of jobs that were claimed as the government quietly revised its job reports, so the economy Trump inherited wasn’t as strong as reported.

More to the point, Trump’s protectionist strategy intends to create favorable economic conditions for making things in America. You know, the sort of items that Walmart could sell and avoid having tariffs disrupt its bottom line.