Walmart has said that it is working on strategies to mitigate the pain of the tariffs to keep prices low. A Walmart spokesman said that it was not unusual for the company to be in touch with White House officials.

“We’re viewed by Republican and Democratic administrations as an important bellwether of the economy and the health of the American consumer,” he said, “so it’s not uncommon that current and past administrations would reach out reach out to us on important issues like this.”

Retail analysts suggested that despite such efforts, companies cannot necessarily adjust their business plans as quickly as the trade winds blow.

“It is not something that can be changed overnight,” said Christopher Mandeville, an analyst at Jefferies. “Having said that, management has been aware of tariff risk for some time now, where, in circumstances that allow for it, they could shift sourcing to nearby countries in Southeast Asia.”

Mr. Mnuchin said that his “expectation is a lot of this business will be moved from China” and that there will be only a small number of items where tariffs are passed on to consumers.

While Mr. Mnuchin has privately cautioned against tariffs, on Wednesday he argued that depreciation of China’s currency could blunt some of the effects of the tariffs by making Chinese products cheaper to buy. He also said that it was yet not certain that the next round of tariffs would be imposed, noting that Mr. Trump and President Xi Jinping of China will most likely meet at the G-20 summit meeting next month in Japan.

However, Mr. Mnuchin was far less optimistic about a deal than he was just a month ago.

“We were beginning to send out the date for the two presidents to meet and have a signing ceremony,” he said. “Unfortunately, China has taken a big step backward.”