Walmart CFO says customers will soon see tariff-induced price hikes – National & International News – THU 15May2025
Walmart says customers will soon see tariff-induced price hikes.
Supreme Court weighs Trump’s restrictions on birthright citizenship.
Georgia hospital tells family brain-dead woman must carry fetus to term.
Walmart says tariff-induced price hikes weeks away
John David Rainey, CFO of Walmart, says that the retail giant’s customers could see increased prices on a range of products as soon as the end of this month. Rainey attributed this to Trump’s program of tariffs, which have imposed a 10% duty on imported goods from most countries, and most significantly a 30% duty on goods coming from China.
Rainey told CNBC that the company will roll out price increases “towards the end of this month, and I certainly expect More in June”.
Despite the back and forth in Trump’s trade war with China and other exporters in recent weeks (or perhaps because of them), Walmart and other American retailers continued to perform well. In fact, Walmart outperformed projections this quarter, seeing sales rise by 4.5% as of April 30.
However, their share prices on Wall Street fell 4% today as traders anticipate the impact of Trump’s tariffs on their prices.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell also warned today that the US “maybe entering a period of more frequent, and potentially more persistent, supply shocks – a difficult challenge for the economy and for central banks”. As a result of Trump’s 30% tariff on Chinese goods, analysts have warned that US retailers could soon see inventory shortfalls.
Click here for the full story (opens in new tab).
Supreme Court weighs Trump’s restrictions on birthright citizenship
Soon after taking office, President Trump issued an executive order that would restrict birthright citizenship in the United States. His order would deny birthright citizenship to children who are born to people who are in the country illegally or temporarily.
This order sparked numerous legal challenges with plaintiffs arguing that such an order would violate the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment. As a result, Trump’s order is on hold. Today, the Supreme Court considered arguments for and against allowing Trump to enforce his order.
While opinion was divided, the Justices seemed to lean in favor of maintaining the block on the order. However, they seemed sympathetic to the administration’s desires to scale back the nationwide scope and implementation of orders and injunctions issued by federal courts.
Click here for the full story (opens in new tab).
Georgia hospital tells family brain-dead woman must carry fetus to term
Three months ago, 30-year-old Atlanta mother and nurse Adriana Smith was experiencing severe headaches. At the time, Smith was about 9 weeks pregnant with her second child. Smith sought emergency care at a local hospital, received medication and was discharged. The next day, Smith’s boyfriend woke up to find Smith unable to breathe. Smith was rushed to Emory University hospital, where it was determined that Smith had blood clots in her brain. She was soon declared brain-dead.
Because of Georgia’s “heartbeat law”, one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the country, Smith’s family was told that Smith would have to remain on life support until her fetus could be delivered. She is now 21 weeks pregnant and has about 3 months left to go. Such cases are rare, but hers would be one of the longest pregnancies for a brain-dead mother.
In a similar case in Texas over a decade ago, a pregnant brain-dead woman was kept on life support for 2 months before a judge ruled that the hospital was misapplying state law and life support was continued. With Texas’s current abortion ban laws, which are similar to Georgia’s, it’s unclear how such a case would play out today.
Such cases are legally, ethically, and medically complicated. In Smith’s case, her family says doctors have told them that her unborn baby, which the family recently learned is a boy, has fluid on his brain. This has grave implications for the baby’s health and chances of survival should he be born alive. Smith’s mother April Newkirk told a local news outlet that her grandson, “maybe blind, may not be able to walk, may not survive once he’s born”.
Click here for the full story (opens in new tab).
