Walmart is one of the largest companies in the world. They sell pretty much everything you might need every day and are mostly open 24/7, except Christmas. Without international trade, Walmart would not be where it is today. Most of its trade comes from China. Walmart also announced earlier this year that it would raise its starting minimum wage to $11 an hour this year. This political move has made it very difficult for anyone to keep up with them to this day. Walmart is located in 26 other countries besides the United States. Its 2,300 stores in 2013 in Mexico have made it a great platform for regional integration for workers migrating from a small town to a city. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay An online article on Seeking Alpha written by Zoltan Ban states that “Walmart is by far the largest American importer, so it depends a lot on trade relations” with the rest of the world, but especially with China” makes it very clear that without any kind of international trade it would not be America's largest importer of goods. The article details how dependent Walmart is on having great business relationships with China. In 2016, 70-80% of its suppliers came from China” (Ban). In our textbook on page 133 we explain how Walmart and its incredible global expansion are helping international trade. We may not notice it, but going into Walmart for just 1 thing is always a problem, at least for me. For example, I went to Walmart to buy diapers for my son, but ended up buying some headphones that were on sale for only $20 and that trip that would have only cost me $25 (diapers) just turned into $45 Most of our electronics, yes, even the name-brand ones, are made in China for next to nothing, and Walmart can undercut them by buying them in bulk and shopping for all of its 5,000 U.S. stores. The article “Walmart's Shiny New $11 Minimum Wage Isn't Really A Result of The Tax Law” by Maxwell Strachan talks about how, due to a recently passed new tax law, Walmart raised the minimum wage up to $ 11 per hour and will offer bonuses ranging from $200 to $1000 (Strachan) Depending on the state you live in, the starting salary can range from as low as $7.25 to as high as $10.10 people argue that you can't live on minimum wage, it's not meant to be experienced only as a starting point in which to grow within a company and excel. Politics plays a big role in deciding who gets paid what the new tax law Walmart was able to give employees about 11 million dollars among all their current employees. On page 158 of our book it states how political reasons can influence the free trade market. Walmart can easily convince a person to work for Walmart rather than another department store, and in some cases, can even make employees leave for another store for better pay. The article “Challenges Wal-Mart Faces In Mexico And China” by Team Trefis explains how Walmart's small growth in 2013 was not very good for the company, but having almost 2,300 stores in the country was important to work on improving the market. The article also states that due to Mexico's poor economy, its slow growth will have a negative impact on Walmart. The upside has the potential to grow tremendously given time. Creating jobs across borders e.