Wal-Mart Stores Inc., facing slowing growth in the U.S., agreed to buy Trust-Mart, a chain of food and department superstores operating in China, for about 1 billion US dollars, Bloomberg reported, citing a person familiar with the proposed acquisition. The world's largest retailer is counting on international growth to counteract slowing U.S. sales and wants to generate 33 percent of its revenue and profit overseas, up from 20 percent currently. ``This will give them more scale in a market that is going to be increasingly more important for them,'' said Bloomberg, quoted Patricia Edwards, a Seattle-based money manager at Wentworth, Hauser & Violich, with 8.2 billion US dollars in assets including Wal-Mart shares, as saying. Wal-Mart initially will purchase 31 stores from Trust-Mart and gradually increase its holdings, giving it a bigger foothold in China than French rival Carrefour SA, said the Wall Street Journal, which reported the proposed deal earlier today. Competition in China's 841 billion US dollars retail market has intensified after the Chinese government dropped restrictions on foreign retailers to meet World Trade Organization pledges.