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As Americans contend with persistent inflation, it makes sense that President Donald Trump would be desperate for any good news on the subject. This week, he claimed credit for a national grocery chain’s sale on barbecue essentials.
“This summer, Walmart and Sam’s Club are helping customers and members save more with thousands of lower prices,” the retailers announced Monday. “From backyard barbecues and family vacations to pool days and neighborhood gatherings, the savings are designed to help customers and members make the most of the season while spending less on the products they need, want and love most.”
The savings included summer staples like ground beef, soda, potato chips, and corn on the cob.
Later that day, Trump said it was his idea.
“Great news! I have just been informed that one of the biggest, best, and smartest Retailers in America, Walmart, will be lowering prices, by a lot, at my Administration’s request to celebrate our great Country’s 250th birthday,” he wrote on Truth Social. “Walmart is stepping up in a big and bold way, and other Retailers should follow the lead of these absolute Patriots.”
What a difference a year makes. Last April, Trump imposed tariffs on nearly every other country, and Walmart was among the retailers that announced it could be forced to raise prices.
In that case, the president was not pleased.
“Walmart should STOP trying to blame Tariffs as the reason for raising prices throughout the chain,” Trump wrote in May 2025. “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. I’ll be watching, and so will your customers!!!”
Ever since he first ran for president, tariffs have formed a big part of Trump’s economic policy, even though he consistently seems to misunderstand how they work. Tariffs are paid by companies, and by extension their customers, but Trump often calls them “a tax on another country.”
Then again, Trump’s tariff policy is of a piece with his comments about Walmart, showing how little he truly understands about economics.
Patrick Thomas and Sarah Nassauer of The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that ahead of the July 4 holiday, the Department of Agriculture reached out to multiple national grocers to ask about beef prices. Walmart, in its call, “said it already had plans to reduce prices on many items for the summer, including beef,” wrote Thomas and Nassauer. “Walmart implemented those plans on shelves June 29, and later readied a press release touting the price cuts.”
“Summer sales are typical for chains like Walmart and these discounts had been in place for a week before Trump’s Truth Social post,” added Ramishah Maruf at CNN. “For example, the soda packs that are on sale were discounted last summer, as well.”
Last year, Trump also took credit for Walmart’s Thanksgiving meal basket being 25 percent less expensive than the year before, though it also included fewer and less expensive items.
Trump often seems to feel he has more control over markets than he actually does. “We’re a department store, a giant department store, the biggest department store in history,” he told Time last year. “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.”
That is, of course, not how it works—for neither the economy nor the presidency. But Trump has certainly tried to govern that way.
Early in his second term, Trump signed an executive order calling for lower prices on prescription drugs—not just on those purchased by the federal government but seemingly for every drug on the market. Despite bragging ever since that he had brought prices down by mathematically impossible amounts, prescription costs largely remain the same.
In recent weeks, Trump threatened oil and gas companies with federal investigations unless they lowered prices at the pump. Of course, gas is more expensive primarily as a result of the war in Iran that Trump continues to wage.
Granted, a president can move markets in the short term. Numerous times during his second term, Trump has announced a policy shift that sent markets tumbling or commodity prices rising, only to creep back to normal when he reversed course. Some commentators have even noted a flurry of trading activity right before Trump’s announcements, suggesting someone could be trading on insider information.
But in the longer term, the economy is driven by individual actors making choices based on a number of external and internal factors. Trump, on the other hand, seems to think that all it takes to raise or lower prices is a call from the White House.
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