The CEOs of Walmart, Target, Home Depot and Lowe’s Warn That Store Shelves All Over America Could “Soon Be Empty”

Michael Snyder is the publisher of , The American Dream Blog and The Truth

If you are going to need anything made in China, I would buy it now while you still can.  Many companies have already decided that it no longer makes any economic sense to import Chinese-made products into the United States because tariff rates are so high.  As a result, there are certain things that will soon no longer be available to U.S. consumers.  On Monday, when I posted an article warning about “empty shelves” in the months ahead, some people thought that I was exaggerating.  But of course the truth is that I was not exaggerating at all.  On Tuesday, the CEOs of Walmart, Target, Home Depot and Lowe’s specifically warned President Trump that store shelves all over the country could “soon be empty” during a meeting at the White House…

The CEOs of Walmart, Target, Home Depot and Lowe’s, all of whom delivered a blunt message about interruptions in the supply chain and its effects on consumers, were invited to the White House as part of an ongoing internal campaign to make the case to Trump about the real-world impact of his policies, administration officials said.

Trump’s tariffs have placed significant pressure on the retail sector. The business leaders warned that store shelves across America could “soon be empty,” two people familiar with the meeting said, as they presented a dire economic picture that could come into sharper view within weeks.

Those CEOs are not bluffing.

Our biggest retailers normally import massive amounts of goods from China, and there is no easy short-term way to replace that production.

According to Axios, the CEOs “flat out told him [Trump] the prices aren’t going up, they’re steady right now, but they will go up”.  They also told President Trump that “shelves will be empty” if current tariff levels persist.

I am so glad that President Trump is getting input from these CEOs.

That is very important.

The CEO of Walmart reportedly told President Trump that his supply chains are already being disrupted…

Doug McMillon, the CEO of Walmart who has developed a cordial relationship with Trump through meetings at Mar-a-Lago and several mutual friends, bluntly told Trump that the trade war with China had already started to disrupt the supply chain, officials said, and would only intensify by summer.

We should have never become so dependent on imports from China.

I have been ranting about this for years.

Now we find ourselves in a situation where our economy literally cannot function properly without Chinese-made goods.

According to Zero Hedge, scheduled import volumes at the Port of Los Angeles are beginning to plummet dramatically…

The Trump administration is likely monitoring sliding scheduled import volumes at the Port of Los Angeles—the largest container port in the Western Hemisphere—amid President Trump’s overnight remarks hinting at a potential de-escalation in the trade war with China. The president’s comments to ease trade tensions with Beijing come as scheduled import volumes at the LA Port indicate possible inbound trade disruptions on the horizon.

According to Port Optimizer, a tracking system for vessel operators, scheduled import volumes for the LA Port for the week ending May 3 show a 38.53% week-over-week plunge. Year-over-year, the data shows a 9.79% decrease. For the week ending May 10, scheduled import volumes continued to slow, with a year-over-year change down around 35%.

Those numbers might not mean anything to you now.

But you will be quite upset when you go to a big box store and the item that you are looking for is not there.

The reality of the matter is that our supply chains have already been thrown into a state of chaos.

One industry insider warned CNBC that more than 700,000 truckloads “have evaporated nationally” in just the last week…

The fallout from the ocean freight slowdown is beginning to hit ground transport linked to ports.

“We are at a tipping point on the West Coast,” said Ken Adamo, chief of analytics at DAT Freight & Analytics. “Looking at how many truck loads are available versus trucks, we’ve seen a precipitous drop, over 700,000 loads have evaporated nationally in the past week compared to two weeks prior,” he said.

That is cataclysmic.

In all my years, I have never seen anything even close to this.

And the outlook for the weeks ahead is even more troubling.  We are being told that “ocean container bookings from China to the United States are down over 60%”…

In the 3 weeks since the tariffs took effect, ocean container bookings from China to the United States are down over 60% industry wide.

But there is some good news.

After his meeting with the retail CEOs, President Trump told the press that tariffs on Chinese imports will “come down substantially” and that we “are going to have a fair deal with China”…

Mr Trump told reporters late on Tuesday that levies on China would “come down substantially”.

“We are going to have a fair deal with China,” the president told reporters on Wednesday, without addressing the report.

The suggestion that tariffs could be halved sent stocks soaring on Wall Street, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq stock index up as much as 4pc at one point.

Unfortunately, this is not going to happen right away.

According to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, it is still the position of the Trump administration that there will be “no unilateral reduction in tariffs against China”…

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Wednesday said on Fox News there will be “no unilateral reduction in tariffs against China.”

“The president has made it clear China needs to make a deal with the United States of America, and we are optimistic that will happen,” Leavitt said. “And when that continues, it will be up to the president what the tariff rate on China will be.”

What this means is that the tariffs will remain where they are until a deal with China is reached.

That could take weeks, that could take months, or that could take years.

Or it may never happen at all.

At least the Chinese are willing to talk.  In fact, a top Chinese official just declared that “our doors are wide open”…

China said “our doors are wide open” for talks after President Donald Trump softened his tone on the unfolding trade war between the world’s two largest economies.

Guo Jiakun, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, made the comments at a press briefing on Wednesday, according to Chinese state media.

That is a promising sign.

But the Trump administration has no intention of going back to the way that things were before.  According to U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the Trump administration is seeking a deal that will fundamentally rebalance trade between the United States and China…

“Recent data shows the Chinese economy tilting even further away from consumption toward manufacturing. China’s economic system, with growth driven by manufacturing exports, will continue to create even more serious imbalances with its trading partners if the status quo is allowed to continue,” he said.

“China’s current economic model is built on exporting its way out of its economic troubles. It’s an unsustainable model that is not only harming China, but the entire world,” Bessent said. “China needs to change. The country knows it needs to change. Everyone knows it needs to change, and we want to help it change, because we need rebalancing too.”

Negotiating such a deal with the Chinese will not be easy at all.

And even if a deal is eventually reached, President Trump is warning that tariffs on Chinese goods “won’t be zero”…

Trump yesterday said the current tariff is ‘very high, and it won’t be that high. … No, it won’t be anywhere near that high. It’ll come down substantially. But it won’t be zero.’

The bottom line is that Chinese goods will never be more affordable than they are right now.

And until a deal with China is reached, many Chinese goods may not be available at all.

So you might want to stock up while it is still possible to do so.

Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.  He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

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