Walmart Will Invest $350 Billion To Advance American-Made Goods

Over the next decade, Walmart said it will spend $350 billion on merchandise made, grown or assembled in the U.S., according to a Wednesday (March 3) company post by President and CEO John Furner.

Furner estimated in the post that the infusion of money will lead to the creation of over 750,000 new American jobs.

“We’ve identified six priority categories to focus on: plastics; textiles; small electrical appliances; food processing; pharmaceutical and medical supplies; and Goods Not For Resale (GNFR),” Furner said in the post. “This commitment will mean a few more impacts, including an estimated 100 million metric tons of CO2 emissions avoided by sourcing closer to our customers.”

Furner said in the post that Walmart is also going to increase spending and support for small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and diverse suppliers and sellers who are based in the U.S. Further, it plans to give 9,000 entrepreneurs the chance to become Walmart suppliers and sellers.

The “American Lighthouses” project will assist businesses in regions of the country with “top-down barriers to U.S. production,” Furner noted in the post.

“By bringing together key regions and various stakeholders, we can make the supply chain more efficient,” Furner said in the post. “The aim is to bring U.S. manufacturing back in a sustainable, long-term way.”

Walmart’s fourth quarter earnings results release last month showed a revenue increase of 7.3 percent to $152.1 billion. The company said it is planning to accelerate its investment in key digital areas and increase automation and supply chain capacity.

In a PYMNTS interview, Tony Uphoff, president and CEO of supplier discovery and product sourcing platform Thomas, said the pandemic has been the biggest opportunity for U.S. manufacturers in 70 years.

He added that “as industry 4.0 starts to play out, you’re going to see a renaissance and a resurgence in global manufacturing, but particularly in North America, that’s going to be dramatic.”