Proposes 10 policy actions to address major barriers to U.S. manufacturing growth, help recapture an estimated $300 billion in production of consumer goods, and create an estimated 1.5 million U.S. jobs
WASHINGTON, D.C. – July 26, 2017 – Walmart today convened a broad group of individuals and organizations representing government, business, and non-governmental organizations from across the country to present a Policy Roadmap to Renew U.S. Manufacturing. The meeting included a bipartisan conversation about the current challenges and opportunities in the U.S. manufacturing sector as well as case studies of successful collaboration among key stakeholders.
“As we’ve worked over the last four years alongside our suppliers toward our goal to source an additional $250 billion in products that support American jobs, we’ve learned a great deal about the challenges our suppliers face in domestic manufacturing,” said Cindi Marsiglio, Walmart vice president for U.S. Sourcing and Manufacturing. “The good news is we’ve also learned how to overcome the challenges and, because of our experience, Walmart is uniquely positioned to help facilitate broad engagement in accelerating the expansion of U.S. manufacturing.”
According to analysis conducted by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), decreasing policy barriers to domestic manufacturing creates an opportunity to recapture approximately $300 billion in consumer goods that are currently imported, including furniture, cookware, and sporting goods, potentially resulting in the creation of an estimated 1.5 million American jobs. The analysis, which laid the foundation for the policy roadmap, leveraged BCG’s expertise in economic policy and manufacturing along with Walmart’s sourcing data and included interviews with merchants, suppliers, and other policy experts.
Walmart’s Policy Roadmap to Renew U.S. Manufacturing offers a comprehensive approach to tackling the major barriers that keep companies from manufacturing more consumer goods in the United States. The roadmap identifies the highest impact policy barriers as (1) workforce, (2) coordination and financing, (3) regulation, and (4) tax and trade and proposes specific policies that have the potential to effectively accelerate and grow U.S. manufacturing.
“Walmart’s leadership to grow U.S. manufacturing jobs is needed as much as ever, and New Mexico is poised to be a proving ground for much of Walmart’s policy roadmap released this week,” said Jason Espinoza, President & CEO of New Mexico Association of Commerce and Industry. “Walmart’s roadmap is tremendously incisive in getting to the heart of what public- and private-sector policy leaders must address, singularly or comprehensively, to grow jobs at the local, state and national levels. ACI will be studying how the roadmap’s recommendations can be brought into the fold of ACI’s policy agenda.”
The roadmap details 10 concrete policy actions that can be taken to address these barriers and goes a step further to suggest the appropriate entities, including federal, state, and local governments, manufacturers, and businesses, that must collaborate on those policy actions to affect meaningful change that will unlock greater growth and job creation in domestic manufacturing of consumer goods.
Last month, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon signaled the company’s intention to pursue policy proposals that help create a favorable climate for job creation in his remarks to more than 500 small- and medium-sized companies that attended Walmart’s fourth annual Open Call for U.S. products on June 28. “We are also committed to participating as a leader in the country when it comes to policy,” he said. “We believe that we should be one of the voices at the table and we want to help renew U.S. manufacturing and drive the creation of manufacturing jobs across the United States.”
According to data from its suppliers, approximately two-thirds of Walmart U.S. merchandise spending is for items that are made, assembled, sourced, or grown in the U.S. In 2013, Walmart committed to sourcing an additional $250 billion over ten years on products that support American jobs.
For more information on Walmart’s commitment to U.S. manufacturing, visit www.walmart.com/americanjobs.
About Walmart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) helps people around the world save money and live better - anytime and anywhere - in retail stores, online, and through their mobile devices. Each week, over 260 million customers and members visit our 11,695 stores under 59 banners in 28 countries and e-commerce websites in 11 countries. With fiscal year 2017 revenue of $485.9 billion, Walmart employs approximately 2.3 million associates worldwide. Walmart continues to be a leader in sustainability, corporate philanthropy and employment opportunity. Additional information about Walmart can be found by visiting http://corporate.walmart.com on Facebook at http://facebook.com/walmart and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/walmart.