Media: Walmart slashes reliance on China, boosts India imports

Retail giant Walmart is strategically reducing its reliance on Chinese supply, with 25% of its US imports now sourced from India, a significant increase from 2% in 2018. The move aims to cut costs and enhance supply chain resilience as the company seeks to fill in the gap created by the US-China trade war and the pandemic.

Walmart's US imports from China have decreased to 60% this year from 80% in 2018 due to rising costs and geopolitical tensions. This shift aligns with a broader trend among large Western corporations, including Amazon, to divest their sources of supply away from China to India, Thailand, and Vietnam. 

Walmart now imports a range of goods from India, including toys, electronics, bicycles, pharmaceuticals, packaged food, dry grains, and pasta.

In parallel, the European Union (EU) is also reducing reliance on China for critical raw materials. Earlier this month, negotiators reached an agreement to ensure that no third country provides more than 65% of any strategic raw material. The Critical Raw Materials Act, expected to take effect in early 2024, sets ambitious targets for recycling and processing to secure the EU's strategic material needs.