Letter to the editor: Walmart and tariffs

In 2018, Walmart purchased 80% of its products from China. Since then, these purchases have dropped to 60% with items being sourced from countries such as Vietnam and India. In fiscal year 2024, Walmart claimed two-thirds of its product spend was from suppliers that reportedly were made, grown or assembled in the United States. If this is so, why the concern of absorbing one-third of the increase in tariffs on products supplied by China?

Walmart’s success was based on making suppliers drop their prices to a level that could not be met by many U.S. suppliers. In the meantime, Walmart’s CEO enjoys a cool $27.4 million per year. I wonder if Doug McMillon would consider a reduction in salary to help with absorbing these new tariffs.

The majority of multi-millionaires and multi-billionaires live in the United States. Would they consider a salary reduction for the next four years, or is President Trump the only one willing to keep our country afloat with his salary reduction?

Jim Richardson

Irwin