Over 50 footwear brands and hundreds more U.S. companies came together in a letter urging the Trump administration to reconsider a 25% tariff on $200 billion in Chinese goods.
Notable footwear brands like Nike, adidas, and Crocs have signed the letter, as well as footwear retailers including DSW, Journeys, and Famous Footwear. Companies including Apple, Dell, Cisco, and Hewlett Packard have also expressed concerns to the Trump administration that the next round of tariffs would result in U.S. businesses and consumers paying $62.5 billion in tariffs per year.
“We cannot simply shift our supply chains outside of China without massive disruption and cost increases due to materials availability, quality, compliance and capacity in other countries,” said the letter, addressed to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. “Moreover, because China accounts for such a large percentage of imports for consumption or further manufacturing, any additional tariffs would likely translate into added costs and price increases in the United States.”
The new tariffs are reported to affect approximately half of all Chinese imports to the U.S. — that includes the machines used to make nearly every shoe made by all of the major sneaker brands, as well as a slew of other products. The new tariffs follow several rounds of imposed tariffs including steel and aluminum tariffs in March, a 25% levy on $34 billion in Chinese goods in July, and a 25% tariff on an additional $16 billion in Chinese imports in August, according to Footwear News.
“Even though footwear is not on the third list proposed by the Trump administration, many other consumer goods and production machinery is at risk, driving up prices for all American consumers,” said Matt Priest, president and CEO of the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America. “Higher costs for our consumers hurts our ability to sell more shoes, and that impacts jobs in our industry. As footwear companies made clear in the letter today, new hidden taxes that touch every single American consumer is simply the wrong approach.”
Source: Footwear News / Inc.
I’m sure this comment section will be entirely level-headed, reasonable responses in the spirit of respectable civil discourse.
Welp as a free market adherent of the Austrian type I’m against all tariffs, comparative advantage and all that.
If these hold tho, companies will be forced to relocate back. Of course at the cost of higher prices to the consumer.
But China doesn’t allow a free market. No tariff’s are not a two way street so far as China is concerned.
Also, they’ll raise prices because it cuts into their profits, but when a shoe only cost $2 to make, 25% is only 50 cents, but they’ll raise their prices 50 dollars.
Most Nike shoes don’t cost $2 to make.
Wont happen.
Yeah you have to have r
Peeps of the trump/sanders type winning/willing to keep the tariffs up for at least another 4 terms before they bite the bullet and reconsider a relocation.
Otherwise the only real effect you’ll feel is increasing prices on imports, materials/finished products
The supporters would rather cut their own throats than admit fault in their savior
TOTAL B.S. they are complaining because it would affect the sum total of their net revenue. it has nothing to do with humanitarian act or passing the bill to the consumers which they have done time and again. they are complaining because of online merchandise and competition from third party sellers that sell cheaper stuff and them being exposed as frauds selling $5 dollar items as $500 dollar goods. and we are not even talking about tax breaks yet that companies are given. cry me a river but these companies don’t deserve any sympathy.
I don’t think the companies are asking for sympathy…I think you might be missing the point.