Walmart announces plan to invest $350B in U.S. manufacturing
Mar 3, 2021, 9:00 PM
(AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio)
(AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio)
PHOENIX — Retail giant Walmart announced Wednesday that it plans to invest $350 billion over the next 10 years in products made, grown or assembled in America.
The company says its focus is on manufacturers who produce textiles, plastics, small electrical appliances, food processing, pharmaceutical and medical supplies.
An estimated 750,000 new American jobs will be generated by the commitment.
“U.S. manufacturing really matters,” President and CEO John Furner said in a statement. “It matters to our suppliers, to entrepreneurs and to the environment.
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“It matters to our customers – more than 85% of which have said it’s important for us to carry products made or assembled in the U.S. And most of all, because of the jobs it brings, it matters to American communities and the people who live in them.”
By working with U.S. suppliers, Walmart says it could help reduce an estimated 100 million tons of carbon-dioxide emissions.
Additionally, the retailer launched a concept named “American Lighthouses,” which aims to find a sustainable way to support domestic manufacturing. It is designed to bring together key stakeholders in specific regions of the country to work together and identify barriers to U.S. production.
In 2013, Walmart made a similar investment of $250 billion in American-made products.
