Walmart pledges help for US producers Walmart has pledged to source an additional $50bn of products from the US over the next 10 years to boost domestic manufacturers as the head of its US business lamented political "gridlock" in Washington. He said Walmart was prepared to give manufacturers "the nudge they need" to invest capital in new US facilities by using its huge buying power to sign new, long-term contracts. "We've figured out how to get this done," he said. He said it would not result in higher prices for consumers. One supply chain consultant said that in the past six months she had fielded a surge of inquiries from clients asking about making more in the US, which she linked to rising costs in China and a desire to get products to US stores more quickly. But after years in which US manufacturing has shrunk, there are doubts over whether its workforce has the skills needed to enable a re-expansion. The US sourcing initiative came after Walmart's supply chain - and its low price mantra - were thrown into the spotlight once again last November by a fatal fire at a subcontractor's factory in Bangladesh where Walmart clothes were being made. The target to buy $50bn worth of US goods over the next 10 years compares to Walmart's US sales of $264bn in its past financial year. The company declined to say how much it currently spent on non-grocery products made in the US. Speaking at a National Retail Federation conference in New York, Mr Simon said Walmart's purchases from US factories would encompass storage products, games, paper goods, furniture and higher-end appliances, as well as basic clothing. According to the American Apparel and Footwear Association, a trade body, 98 per cent of the clothing worn in the US is made outside the country. Rising labour costs in China have driven far more manufacturing to other parts of Asia - notably Vietnam, Bangladesh and Pakistan - than they have to the US. Alluding to Walmart's own role in offshoring, John Marshall of the United Food and Commercial Workers union said its pledge was: "Little more than a band-aid on the years of destruction to American manufacturing that Walmart has been at the centre of." Against a backdrop of US unemployment above 7 per cent, Walmart also said on Tuesday that it aimed to hire more than 100,000 military veterans over the next five years by offering a job to any veteran who recently returned from active duty. Mr Simon said it no longer made sense for retailers to wait for government to take action to help the economy.