Walmart plans US$1.3b investment in Mexico

[MEXICO CITY] US retail giant Walmart said on Wednesday it plans a fresh US$1.3 billion investment in Mexico, where it was hailed amid US President-elect Donald Trump's tough line on foreign trade and keeping jobs in America.

The American company plans to build new distribution centers and expand existing ones "which will create more than 10,000 new jobs," said Walmart's Mexico director Guilherme Loureiro.

He announced the plan alongside Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, who hailed it as a sign of investment "confidence" in his country coming at a moment of "great uncertainty and big risk-aversion."

The corporate news notably comes as Mr Trump, who is to take power next month, has publicly threatened to sanction US companies that shift activities and investment abroad.

The real estate tycoon has also riled America's southern neighbor by describing its migrants as "rapists" and promising to make the US-Mexico border more difficult to cross, including by pledging to build a wall along it.

Mr Loureiro stressed that "Mexico is a country rich in opportunities." The Walmart investment is on top of money the company has previously allocated to expand in Mexico, where it says it has already directly created 200,000 jobs, making it the biggest private employer in the country.

Walmart has more than 2,300 stores in Mexico and plans to open 1,000 more over the next decade.

AFP