This week’s Three-Minute Thursday interview features a conversation between 8th & Walton CEO Jeff Clapper and Walmart + Retail News editor Lainie Petersen on the recent meeting between President Trump and the CEOs of several large retailers.
Lainie: The big news story this past week has been the impact of the meeting between President Trump and the CEOs of major retailers, including Walmart’s own Doug McMillon. During the meeting, the CEOs explained that tariffs could lead to shortages and higher prices. The meeting had a significant impact, with reports that the President was backtracking on some of his plans.
What are you hearing about this within the industry, specifically from suppliers?
Jeff: The first thing I think: When CEOs from the country’s largest retailers are sitting down with the president, it’s not just about politics. It’s about protecting consumer prices, supply chain stability, and business continuity. The meeting reflects a genuine concern over how new or extended tariffs could impact sourcing costs and availability, especially in core categories such as apparel and home consumables. I think it’s a great sign that retailers are actively advocating, which sets the tone for how the rest of the ecosystem should prepare.
Lainie: You mentioned something important: This isn’t just about politics; this is business advocacy.
Jeff: Correct.
Lainie: As a CEO, do you think it’s essential for businesses to take on advocacy roles?
Jeff: Businesses are always advocating for themselves, whether that’s with their employees or their customers. Every day, businesses strive to influence various audiences for the benefit of the entire company. So, yes, businesses do this every day, and they should continue to do it. In this case, it is, of course, with a large government entity, a critical player. But advocacy as a company is always good.
Lainie: The news is changing every day; we just don’t know what’s happening right now. Knowing that Walmart leadership is engaging in this kind of advocacy, what can suppliers do to navigate the current situation? Is there more that they can be doing?
Jeff: Sure, yeah. I mean, I think I’ll answer the question from a high level and then maybe more specifically with regard to Walmart suppliers, generally, suppliers may not have a seat at that table, but they do have a responsibility to prepare for its outcomes.
So, preparation could look like modeling the impact: In other words, knowing how a 10% or 25% tariff might affect your landed cost, talking to buyers early, sharing not just cost implications but your mitigation strategy, and then being flexible, which might mean diversifying sourcing, adjusting pack sizes, shifting ship windows.
There are a lot of other levers to pull, but building a collaborative relationship with your retail customers is important. We, of course, aren’t Walmart and aren’t speaking for Walmart, but Walmart has made it clear that the dot-com expansion is a key strategy. Digital shelf quality and expansion, as well as operational agility, are all priorities for Walmart that they have made very clear.
So, I think investing where Walmart really wants to collaborate and partner: That’s on Walmart Connect, enriched content tools like Scintilla: These are all strategic initiatives at Walmart that suppliers can and should support, and I think create some opportunities even in the volatile landscape around tariffs.
Lainie: So, the effective use of those tools can be a way of maintaining some stability even while everything else is volatile?
Jeff: Every great CEO or business leader is always asking, “What is in our control, what is in our power?” There are things we can and cannot control. Aligning with Walmart, where possible, is absolutely something suppliers should be looking at.
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