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NewsFlash: June 26, 2007

Wal-Mart’s Reliance on Chinese Goods Costs U.S. Jobs

Last year, the retail giant Wal-Mart imported $26.7 billion of Chinese goods into the United States. But that comes at a steep price. Wal-Mart’s reliance on Chinese goods cost the United States over 308,000 jobs in 2006 – or about 77 jobs for every Wal-Mart store in the United States. 

These estimates come from a new analysis by the Economic Policy Institute’s leading expert on international trade, economist Robert Scott, who authored “The Wal-Mart Effect.” The issue brief, published today, probes Wal-Mart’s dependence on cheap imports from China and how that is reflected in our increasing trade imbalance with that country.

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