Walmart Pledges To Spend $50 Billion More On U.S.-Made Goods Over Next Decade

Responding to critics who say it sells too many cheap products made by overseas manufacturers, Walmart announced today that, over the course of the next decade, it promises to spend an additional $50 billion on goods made in the U.S.

This news comes at the same time as the mega-retailer announces plans to hire 100,000 recently discharged armed forces veterans over the next five years.

Walmart claims that around 2/3 of what it sells is sourced locally, but when you consider that 55% of its U.S. sales are groceries, that may skew the numbers a bit, especially with Walmart now buying more produce from within a few hundred miles of the stores in which it is sold.

The real concern among people who want to see more U.S.-made goods sold in the nation’s largest retailer is products like apparel, jewelry, and accessories. These only make up about 7% of Walmart’s sales, but that’s still billions of dollars a year.

In today’s announcement, Walmart said that both it and its Sam’s Club warehouse stores will carry more products in the following categories — sporting goods, basic apparel, storage containers, games and paper products — that come from U.S. suppliers.

Walmart Announces $50 Billion ‘Buy American’ Campaign [Reuters]

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