President Donald Trump will meet Monday afternoon with Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, a White House official told CNBC, as his aggressive and unpredictable tariff agenda threatens to upend top retailers’ import-heavy business models.
Trump will also host officers from Target, Home Depot and Lowe’s at the White House to discuss the impact of his trade policies, another administration official told CNBC.
The White House did not list the meeting on the president’s public schedule Monday; the total attendee list was not immediately clear.
The scheduled meeting was first reported by Bloomberg earlier in the day.
Walmart declined CNBC’s request for comment, while Target and Lowe’s did not immediately respond.
A Home Depot spokesperson declined to confirm any specifics of the meeting, but said the home-improvement retailer’s leaders “regularly meet with leaders at all levels of government on issues that impact our customers, associates and our business.”
For retailers, tariffs are the latest threat to an already challenging economic landscape, where consumers are looking for low prices after years of high inflation.
Yet tariffs will weigh on some retailers more than others. As the nation’s largest grocer, Walmart is in a better position than many of its competitors.
About two-thirds of what Walmart sells in the United States is made, grown or assembled in America, chief financial officer John David Rainey said earlier this month at an investor event in Dallas.
Walmart imports the final one third from around the globe, he said, but China and Mexico are the “most significant” supplier countries.
Target, on the other hand, is in a tougher spot. The Minneapolis-based retailer is best known for discretion merchandise like inexpensive, chic clothes and home goods, products that are typically manufactured overseas.
Target’s annual revenue has been roughly stagnant for the past four years, and the company recently projected just 1% sales growth for the current fiscal year.
The industry’s key trade group, the National Retail Federation, has sounded alarms about the harms tariffs pose to U.S. families. The group, which lobbies for and represents retailers, has released its own estimates of how much more consumers would have to pay for everyday items like sneakers, toasters and mattresses.
“More tariffs equal more anxiety and uncertainty for American businesses and consumers,” David French, NRF’s executive vice president of government relations, said on the day Trump unveiled his “reciprocal” tariff plan, which he has since pared back.
“While leaders in Washington may not care about higher prices, hardworking American families do,” French said.
