• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Ex-PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi worked from midnight until 5 a.m. as a receptionist to pay for her Yale degree—and she says ‘respect went up’ because of it

2

Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary says if he were 25 today, he'd chase these two booming opportunities in the world of AI

3

Iran strikes 85 U.S. military sites in the Gulf, sparking a global selloff in stocks and a spike in the price of oil

1

Ex-PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi worked from midnight until 5 a.m. as a receptionist to pay for her Yale degree—and she says ‘respect went up’ because of it

2

Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary says if he were 25 today, he'd chase these two booming opportunities in the world of AI

3

Iran strikes 85 U.S. military sites in the Gulf, sparking a global selloff in stocks and a spike in the price of oil
LeadershipFortune 500

The stock market is tanking on tariffs, but Walmart and Costco shares are relatively unscathed. Here’s why

Phil Wahba
By
Phil Wahba
Phil Wahba
Senior Writer
Down Arrow Button Icon
Phil Wahba
By
Phil Wahba
Phil Wahba
Senior Writer
Down Arrow Button Icon
April 3, 2025, 3:02 PM ET
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

In the first trading session since President Trump announced his massive tariffs program, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 3%, with many retailers seeing double-digit percentage drops. But Walmart saw its shares dip less than 1% by early Thursday afternoon and Costco’s even rise a touch.

Recommended Video

The reasons for that are simple: Walmart, as the world’s largest retailer, and Costco, America’s second largest, have the wherewithal to offload a big chunk of the higher costs to suppliers. And with their low prices and focus on everyday essentials, both are poised to take additional market share from rivals that depend much more on discretionary spending like Target and Macy’s.

While Walmart doesn’t disclose what percentage of what it imports come from where, China is by far its biggest supplier, with some estimates that about 60% of the goods it imports into the U.S. are from there. (On Wednesday, the Trump administration announced new tariffs of 34% on Chinese products.)

Recently, according to a Bloomberg story this week, Walmart recently got into trouble with Chinese authorities for pressuring its suppliers there to suck up the price of the tariffs. That has included asking suppliers to cut prices by as much as 10% for each round of tariffs, basically making them shoulder the Trump duties. Painful as that might be for those suppliers, having Walmart as a customer that regularly places enormous orders makes it worthwhile. What’s more, Walmart operates Sam’s Club warehouses in China, where consumers flock to what they perceive as higher quality goods and food, reducing the risk of Chinese retaliation.

That means Walmart, which took in $552 billion last year from its U.S. namesake stores and stateside Sam’s Club location, has more capacity to keep prices low than many rivals and thus keep winning market share. During the 2023-24 inflation crisis, Walmart and Costco both handily outmaneuvered rivals like Target with their focus on low prices and staples.

Costco, a bulk retailer with U.S. revenue of $184.1 billion last year, places mammoth orders with relatively few suppliers (for instance, it carries only two brands of laundry detergent) similarly give it plenty of clout to get vendors to figure out how to absorb the tariffs either mostly or entirely.

Not surprisingly, Target shares dipped far more dramatically than Walmart’s on Thursday, plunging 12%. Indeed, investment bank Oppenheimer said Walmart and Costco shares were safer bets than other retailers in the wake of the tariffs. Both companies won mounds of market share during the pandemic and during the inflation crisis, and clearly Wall Street thinks they’ll weather the tariffs storm better than others.

As for Walmart, another factor playing in its favor is the comparatively higher percentage of made-in-USA product in its assortment. As the largest U.S. grocer with half of its revenue coming from consumable items, Walmart sells a good amount of food made stateside (as well as Mexico, which was spared additional tariffs). By one estimate, American-made or grown products represent 20% of what it sells, giving it one more piece of protection against tariffs.

About the Author
Phil Wahba
By Phil WahbaSenior Writer
LinkedIn iconTwitter icon

Phil Wahba is a senior writer at Fortune primarily focused on leadership coverage, with a prior focus on retail.

See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Leadership

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Leadership

Andrew Forrest, chairman of Fortescue Metals Group Ltd., during a panel session at the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Dalian, China, on Tuesday, June 23, 2026.
C-SuiteLeadership
Mining CEO worth $24 billion nearly drowned and had to break his own leg in a freak hiking accident—he used the recovery time to go back to school
By Eleanor PringleJuly 8, 2026
3 hours ago
‘They’re not freak occurrences’: Farmers grapple with protecting crops as heat waves and extreme weather become more frequent
EnvironmentFood and drink
‘They’re not freak occurrences’: Farmers grapple with protecting crops as heat waves and extreme weather become more frequent
By The Associated Press and Joshua A. BickelJuly 8, 2026
3 hours ago
Palmer Luckey wearing a lime green shirt with his hands up gesturing
SuccessEducation
Anduril founder Palmer Luckey warns the U.S. university system is falling behind China’s: ‘It generates a lot of worker bees’
By Preston ForeJuly 8, 2026
4 hours ago
Rilla CEO Sebastian Jimenez
Successreturn to office
This CEO pays $1.7 million a year so employees can live in one of America’s most expensive neighborhoods
By Emma BurleighJuly 8, 2026
4 hours ago
Jeremy Grantham, co-founder and chief investment strategist of GMO LLC, during an interview on an episode of Bloomberg Wealth with David Rubenstein in Boston, Massachusetts, US, on Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023.
InvestingSpaceX
Famed investor Jeremy Grantham says history will end up laughing at SpaceX, the ‘craziest IPO in the history of man’ that just joined the Nasdaq 100
By Eleanor PringleJuly 8, 2026
7 hours ago
t
CommentaryEducation
AI is about to disrupt millions of jobs. A century ago, America’s answer was to build a new high school
By Tim KnowlesJuly 8, 2026
9 hours ago

Most Popular

Ex-PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi worked from midnight until 5 a.m. as a receptionist to pay for her Yale degree—and she says ‘respect went up’ because of it
Success
Ex-PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi worked from midnight until 5 a.m. as a receptionist to pay for her Yale degree—and she says ‘respect went up’ because of it
By Preston ForeJuly 6, 2026
2 days ago
Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary says if he were 25 today, he'd chase these two booming opportunities in the world of AI
AI
Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary says if he were 25 today, he'd chase these two booming opportunities in the world of AI
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJuly 5, 2026
3 days ago
Iran strikes 85 U.S. military sites in the Gulf, sparking a global selloff in stocks and a spike in the price of oil
Newsletters
Iran strikes 85 U.S. military sites in the Gulf, sparking a global selloff in stocks and a spike in the price of oil
By Jim EdwardsJuly 8, 2026
9 hours ago
China’s birth rate just hit its lowest point since 1949—and Trip.com cofounder James Liang thinks that’s a threat to innovation
Asia
China’s birth rate just hit its lowest point since 1949—and Trip.com cofounder James Liang thinks that’s a threat to innovation
By Nicholas GordonJuly 7, 2026
1 day ago
Current price of oil as of July 7, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of July 7, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 7, 2026
1 day ago
Presidents aren't supposed to pick winners, former White House ethics lawyer says. Trump keeps choosing Dell
Politics
Presidents aren't supposed to pick winners, former White House ethics lawyer says. Trump keeps choosing Dell
By Mia OsmonbekovJuly 7, 2026
23 hours ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.