By Sarah Nassauer | Photography by Desiree Rios for WSJ

DALLAS -- As global markets gyrated over tariffs, Walmart executives gathered with their biggest investors in a hotel here this week and worked to project calm.

"We've learned how to manage through turbulent periods," Chief Executive Doug McMillon told the group Tuesday, before they hopped into vans for a tour of local warehouses and returned the next day for hours of presentations.

The world woke up Wednesday to an altered global trade landscape. Trump administration tariffs on goods from a raft of countries had taken effect overnight. By early afternoon, Trump had changed course, saying he would pause many of those levies for 90 days but raise tariffs on Chinese imports to 125%.

Walmart executives said the trade-war turmoil was an opportunity for the retail giant to grab market share, because cash-strapped shoppers tend to turn to Walmart for low-price necessities in times of financial stress.

Beyond that upbeat projection, executives tried to avoid mentioning tariffs for much of its two-day investor meeting. But outside events overtook the retailer's carefully crafted program.

Walmart's share price started off Wednesday morning with a 4% bounce, rising in contrast to a deepening market slide. The reason was Walmart's early-morning announcement that it would maintain its financial forecast for the current quarter and seek to use tariffs to its advantage.

Investors ate it up, betting that Walmart could navigate the new high-tariff environment more deftly than competitors.

Kath McLay, CEO of Walmart's international business, moderated a fireside-style chat with the leaders of Walmart's China, Mexico and India units without asking how tariffs were ricocheting through their businesses.

"Why do customers love Sam's Club so much?" McLay asked Xiaojing Christina Zhu, chief executive of Walmart China, referring to the fast growth in China of Walmart's warehouse-store chain.

On the sidelines of the event, McLay said Walmart's international team was focused on a vast, complex business that included many topics beyond tariffs. She added that tariffs had been building for years.

"It is a thing, but it's not the only thing," she told a Wall Street Journal reporter. A public relations executive, listening to the conversation, interjected: "I think today is more about the broader story."

McLay continued: "We are practiced in the art of working out, with these disruptions, how do you manage through that whole ecosystem."

Answering questions

As in past years, the day's programming turned to a more freewheeling question-and-answer session.

"I'm going to hit tariffs," said the first questioner, Simeon Gutman, a retail analyst for Morgan Stanley. "I wanted to ask how you're approaching tariffs, product costs, supplier relationships, pricing."

"The current over/under on tariff-related questions sits at six," McMillon quipped.

"We're not unfamiliar with tariffs over time, including starting in 2017," McMillon continued. "It's a very fluid situation," and Walmart is focused on "what we can control," he said.

The final count of tariff questions from analysts was four out of 13. But once McMillon and other executives moved to a smaller room with a group of reporters, tariffs dominated.

Reporters from CNBC, the Journal, Fortune and other publications pressed the executives for more details on how America's largest importer planned to manage through.

Would anger against the U.S. because of tariffs eat into Walmart's international sales?

"We've been in these places for a long time. We hire locally. We do a great amount of sourcing locally," McMillon said. "We try to do a good job communicating that to everybody."

Had McMillon spoken to President Trump in recent days about tariffs?

No, he said. "We communicate to different members of government leadership in different ways pretty frequently, and we are trying to do a good job helping them see what we see."

So far, Walmart isn't canceling purchase orders of goods from China, Mexico and other countries, which account for about a third of Walmart's U.S. sales.

Walmart is now selling through goods that already are in its supply chain and aren't subject to new tariffs. The retailer can decide over the coming weeks and months whether to buy fewer of some items or pull back on them entirely, McMillon said.

Dan Bartlett, the company's head of public affairs, added: "There is timing here as well. Things that are already on boats coming over are exempt." Bartlett was wearing custom blue Nike shoes emblazoned with Walmart's slogan. One said "Save Money"; the other, "Live Better."

A little after noon Central time, as the press Q&A wrapped up, Trump posted on social media. "I have authorized a 90 day PAUSE" on many of the tariffs, he said. At the same time, tariffs on Chinese goods would rise to 125%, effective immediately.

Some executives huddled around their phones with analysts as news alerts flooded in and the stock market leapt. Walmart's shares jumped again.

"Did you see it?" asked a Walmart public-relations executive as she climbed into a black Mercedes Sprinter van filled with reporters headed on a preplanned tour of local stores.

She read Trump's post aloud for those who hadn't. "I don't know what to tell you," she told some of the reporters peppering her with questions. The priorities Walmart had outlined in the meeting minutes earlier remained the same, she said: managing inventory, keeping prices low and managing costs.

One reporter stayed back at the hotel to file a story related to the sudden tariff change. The rest continued on to a Sam's Club to see the store's checkout-free technology and graze on food samples.

Back in the van at 2:10 p.m. for a Walmart store tour, the public-relations executive confirmed that Walmart wouldn't add to its comments beyond the investor meeting.

"Our plans are consistent," she said.

Write to Sarah Nassauer at Sarah.Nassauer@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 09, 2025 22:40 ET (02:40 GMT)

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