Trump's Jobs Creation Agenda Gains Traction on GM, Walmart Announcements

Kristian Rouz – Adding to the economic optimism that stems from President-elect Donald Trump's plan to "bring jobs back in the US," the automotive giant General Motors (GM) and retail chain store Walmart announced on Tuesday they would hire additional personnel nationwide. With the increased investment in their US operations, both enterprises are eyeing greater profits resulting from strengthening US consumer demand.

However, as some analysts point out, these two companies planned their expansion in the US market before the presidential election in November. Yet, the anticipation of the Trump-proposed fiscal stimulus is pushing consumer sentiment higher across the US, promising even higher estimated returns for both Walmart and GM.

Walmart Stores, Inc. and General Motors Co. won thumbs-up from President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday after they both reaffirmed their plans to increase investment in domestic operations and hire additional personnel.

"Thank you to General Motors and Walmart for starting the big jobs push back into the US!" Trump tweeted on Tuesday.

Walmart plans to create 10,000 new jobs across their 60 new stores set to open this year. Meanwhile, GM intends to invest an additional $1 bln in their domestic operation, creating 1,500 new US jobs, primarily in manufacturing.

Trump, naturally, welcomed these recent announcements as they fall in line with his economic policy agenda aimed at improving the US labor market by adding sustainable jobs in the private sector.

Previously, Trump harshly criticized many US major enterprises for offshoring their manufacturing and operational facilities and cutting US jobs in the crucial sectors of the economy. His election in November was largely motivated by the economic despair across the Rust Belt – once heavily industrialized, and now dismayed, states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin expressed their trust in Trump’s economic agenda aimed at bringing the economy back on track.

"With all of the jobs I am bringing back into the US (even before taking office), with all of the new auto plants coming back into our country… I believe the people are seeing 'big stuff'," Trump said in a separate tweet. The president-elect is known as a heavy user of Twitter, oftentimes drawing criticism from his opponents for his excessive reliance on this social media platform.

Overall, since Trump was elected into office in early November, he has assured the creation of roughly 200,000 new US jobs by a handful of both US and overseas enterprises. Among these are the online retailer Amazon.com, the telecom giant Sprint Corp., the German pharmaceutical company Bayer, and the US seeds enterprise Monsanto Co. The latter two companies also reaffirmed their plans to create more hi-tech jobs in the US after their merger is finalized.

Walmart is a prominent example of a company that up until recently was closing its brick-and-mortar shops across the US and cutting personnel due to increased competition from online retail. However, the recent pickup in domestic US consumption and the failure of online commerce to push beyond the threshold of 10pc of total US sales resulted in Walmart revising their outlook. Most likely, the expected massive money injections into the economy in the form of the Trump tax stimulus encouraged the once-bleeding Walmart to turn their business strategy around.

Among other companies, SoftBank earlier announced they would create 50,000 US jobs under a $50-billion investment deal, stemming from the confidence of the Trump administration's economic policies. IBM, once the biggest producer of computers in the US, also said they would add 25,000 jobs in the US.

"I share (Trump's) enthusiasm about the commitment that he's making to this country," Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles said.

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