By Tom Polansek
July 6 (Reuters) – Walmart said on Monday it would cut prices on many summer barbecue favorites, including meat, chips, and soda, following a Truth Social post from President Donald Trump saying the retailer was doing so at his administration’s request.
“Walmart, will be lowering prices, by a lot, at my Administration’s request to celebrate our great Country’s 250th birthday. Walmart will, in particular, be dropping the price for a pound of ground beef by almost 15%,” Trump said.
Walmart said in a statement that the price of one pound of 73% ground beef roll would drop to $5.94 from $6.74 in its stores, a decline of about 12%. The retailer also said it lowered prices on items including Coca-Cola and PepsiCo sodas and chips.
Record-high beef prices have strained the wallets of U.S. consumers who also paid much higher gasoline prices after the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Iran in February.
Prices for steaks and hamburger meat soared after a persistent drought burned pasture lands and hiked costs of cattle feed, forcing U.S. ranchers to slash their herds. Economists have said it will take years to rebuild the herd to expand domestic beef supplies.
“This is a huge deal for the many millions of Americans who, smartly, shop at Walmart, which is a truly patriotic Company who loves the U.S.A.,” Trump said in the post. Other retailers “should follow the lead of these absolute Patriots,” he said.
Walmart is widely viewed by economists and investors as a gauge of U.S. consumer health because of its size and broad customer base. Recently, the retailer has attracted more middle- and upper-income shoppers seeking bargains as inflation has strained household budgets and food inflation has become a persistent concern.
The price cuts mark a notable shift from last year, when Walmart warned that tariffs would push some prices higher, drawing rebuke from Trump, who urged the retailer to absorb the added costs instead of passing them on to shoppers.
On Monday, Walmart also said it would lower prices on more than 250 items at its membership-based warehouse club chain Sam’s Club stores, where Member’s Mark 88/12 ground beef would be priced at $5.97 per pound, instead of $6.17, a 3% decline.
Trump previously encouraged low-tariff imports of Argentine beef to cool U.S. prices, angering American ranchers, and directed the Department of Justice to investigate whether U.S. meatpackers were colluding to raise prices.
U.S. beef producers previously imported Mexican cattle to fatten and slaughter for American consumers, but Washington blocked such imports more than a year ago because of the spread of the flesh-eating New World screwworm parasite in Mexico.
(Reporting by Costas Pitas in Los Angeles, Ryan Patrick Jones in Toronto, Tom Polansek in Chicago and Nicholas Brown in New York, Sayantani Ghosh in San Francisco; Editing by David Gregorio and Lincoln Feast.)
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