Another Trump Victory: Walmart Announces Buy “American-Made” Initiative
The Trump administration continues to record remarkable progress in bringing back manufacturing despite the media-driven hysteria about the economy. Coinciding with Trump’s 100 days in office celebrations, retail giant Walmart announced a new buy American-made campaign dubbed “Grow With US.”
The program, which aims to help small businesses, according to Axios, will make it “easier for U.S.-based entrepreneurs to navigate the complexities of retail and bring their products to a national stage.”
“We anticipate thousands of small businesses will take advantage of these free resources over the coming years,” John Furner, Walmart U.S. president and CEO, told Axios.
“Walmart has a long history of investing in U.S. manufacturing. Since Sam Walton first launched a ‘Buy American’ initiative in 1985, we have been committed to sourcing and selling products that support American jobs,” states the retail giant.
Since March 2021, the company has incrementally invested in a $350 billion fund to promote products made, grown, or assembled in the U.S. The initiative aims to create roughly 750,000 jobs within ten years.
In the 1980s, Walmart’s founder Sam Walton was concerned about losing customers due to factories and small businesses closing. He therefore aimed to boost domestic production by embedding the “Buy America” motto into the company’s corporate culture. Before Americans were taught to hate their country by liberals, the company’s products proudly displayed the “American made” labels.
In the 1990s, many companies started shifting their production abroad, primarily to China. Since then, the company has resorted to importing most of its products from the communist nation, and the “Buy American” initiative became nothing more than a passing comment on corporate pages.
Nonetheless, Walmart claims that more than “two-thirds of our total product spend on items made, grown or assembled in the United States” and that small businesses account for over 60% of its US suppliers. It also claims that eligible small businesses can apply for financial support via Walmart’s Early Payment Program. Companies can also pitch already completed products for consideration.
“In addition to Grow with US, we recently announced that applications for our annual Open Call event will open June 24, 2025. Open Call offers U.S.-based small and medium-sized businesses the chance to pitch their shelf-ready products — made, grown, or assembled in the United States — directly to Walmart and Sam’s Club merchants,” the company stated.
Meanwhile, Walmart’s “Grow with US” initiative coincided with rumors that online retail giant Amazon would display tariff costs. However, the company denied those allegations after the Trump administration described the initiative as a hostile political act.
“This is a hostile and political act by Amazon,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters. “Why didn’t Amazon do this when the Biden administration allowed inflation to reach the highest level in 40 years?”
The alleged hostile act resulted in Amazon shares dropping by 2% in anticipation of the e-commerce giant’s collision with the Trump administration. However, the company’s spox tried to soften the blow by claiming that the plan was only under consideration by the ultra-low-cost Amazon Haul store but was never approved.
“The team that runs our ultra low cost Amazon Haul store considered the idea of listing import charges on certain products,” Amazon spokeswoman Rachael Lighty told USA TODAY. “This was never approved and is not going to happen.”