Quick Take — Walmart will increase prices due to Donald Trump’s trade war

despite this week’s agreement between the US and China to reduce punitive tariffs… Walmart will try to keep food prices in check after years of food inflation, McMillon said. But he said there are new tariff pressures for products it has to import, such as bananas from Costa Rica and coffee from Colombia

McMillon’s warning on Thursday came as Walmart reported a 4.5 per cent annual increase in comparable sales in its eponymous US business in the three months to the end of April, surpassing the 3.7 per cent increase expected by Wall Street analysts, according to Visible Alpha… Mexico, Canada, Vietnam and India are Walmart’s main sources of imports, along with China…

Walmart reported that its e-commerce business – which includes sales from its own inventory and from third-party merchants using its platform – grew 22% year-on-year and was profitable both in the US and globally for the first time. Trade war jitters prompted shoppers to accelerate purchases of certain items in an effort to beat tariffs, potentially distorting the picture of consumer demand

Quick Take — From Uniqlo to Temu: Japanese buyers make a generational change

Chinese platforms have broken through barriers once considered impenetrable Temu and Shein because they offer products at prices as much as 90% lower than Japanese retailers.

Japan has long been known as a retail graveyard, where even global giants like Tesco, Walmart and Carrefour have failed.

The rise of Chinese platforms signals a fundamental shift in one of the world’s most closed consumer markets. Historically, the retail and e-commerce sector in Japan has been defined by its insularity.

Local groups such as Aeon, Uniqlo and Rakuten have long dominated, thanks to intricate supply chains, loyal customer bases and favourable regulatory environments. Cultural factors add another layer of difficulty for foreign players, from the long-standing preference for domestically manufactured products to geopolitical tensions, particularly among the older generation.

Yet a surprising reversal of this trend has been taking place in recent years. Chinese companies, including PDD Holdings’ Temu and Shein, have broken through barriers once considered impenetrable, offering products at prices as much as 90% lower to local retailers.

Chinese-ownedTikTok is preparing to enter the Japanese online shopping market in the coming months, signalling a further deepening of the Chinese retail push in the country…