An employee delivers groceries to a customer’s car outside a Walmart Inc. store in Amsterdam, New York, on Friday, May 15, 2020.
Angus Mordant | Bloomberg via Getty Images
Walmart said Wednesday it plans to support US manufacturers by spending an additional $ 350 billion over the next decade on items made, grown, or assembled in the US.
According to a company spokesman, nearly two-thirds of Walmart’s current range has been made, assembled, or grown in the US since the most recent fiscal year.
With the move, the retailer said U.S. products will become an even bigger part of its supply chain. It will focus on purchasing more materials and goods from domestic manufacturers, including plastics, textiles, pharmaceutical and medical supplies, food processing and small electrical appliances.
As the world’s largest retailer by revenue, Walmart has been criticized by labor advocates and others for bringing prices down enough to increase production and jobs abroad. The company responded in 2013 by pledging to purchase $ 250 billion worth of U.S. goods by 2023. Wednesday’s announcement is a step forward from that commitment.
In recent years, Walmart has created new ways for US suppliers to be picked up by its stores and website, including an annual Open Call event where small businesses can pitch their products. It also created a website where Walmart suppliers can learn how to get their operations back to the US
However, the company has also been scrutinized. In 2015, it dropped a “Made in USA” logo on products after an investigation by the US Federal Trade Commission and a watchdog group found the items were not made in the US. The company now lists the percentage of a product made in the US on the label.
In a post on the company’s website on Wednesday, Walmart CEO John Furner said the effort benefits the environment and the economy. He said it will reduce the company’s carbon footprint by sourcing goods closer to customers, creating demand for more US jobs, and providing more American entrepreneurs with opportunities to become Walmart suppliers or resellers.
Furner said the increased spending could support more than 750,000 new American jobs, based on a Walmart study with Boston Consulting Group that used data from statistics from the Economic Policy Institute and the Bureau of Labor.
And, he added, the decision responds to what customers want. More than 85% of consumers surveyed by Walmart in 2019 said it’s important for the retailer to ship products made or assembled in the US.
Furner said Walmart will also launch a new program called American Lighthouses that will bring together stakeholders in different parts of the country to think of ways to overcome barriers to US manufacturing. He said the participants will be suppliers, government officials and academic experts who can suggest ways to support and expand US manufacturing.