2 weeks Ago By Ari Yanover
Sending children back to school in new sneakers, jeans and T-shirts is likely to cost U.S. families significantly more this fall if the bespoke tariffs President Donald Trump put on leading exporters take effect as planned, American industry groups warn.
About 97 per cent of the clothes and shoes purchased in the U.S. are imported, predominantly from Asia, the American Apparel & Footwear Association said, citing its most recent data.
Walmart, Gap Inc., Lululemon and Nike are a few of the companies that have a majority of their clothing made in Asian countries. Those same garment-making hubs took a big hit under the president’s plan to punish individual countries for trade imbalances.
For all Chinese goods, that meant tariffs of at least 54 per cent. He set the import tax rates for Vietnam and neighbouring Cambodia at 46 per cent and 49 per cent, and products from Bangladesh and Indonesia at 37 per cent and 32 per cent. Working with foreign factories has kept labour costs down for U.
S. companies in the fashion trade, but neither they nor their overseas suppliers are likely to absorb new costs that high. India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka also got slapped with high tariffs so aren’t immediate sourcing alternatives.
“If these tariffs are allowed to persist, ultimately it’s going to make its way to the consumer,” said Steve Lamar, president and CEO of the American Apparel & Footwear Association. Another trade group, Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America, provided estimates of the price increases that could be in store for shoes, noting 99 per cent of the pairs sold in the U.S.
are imports. Work boots made in China that now retail for $77 would go up to $115, while customers would pay $220 for running shoes made in Vietnam currently priced at $155, the group said. FDRA President Matt Priest predicted lower-income families and the places they shop would feel the impact most.
He said a pair of Chinese-made children’s shoes that cost $26 today will likely carry a $41 price tag by the back-to-school shopping season, according to his group’s calculations. Preparing for a moving target The tariffs on the top producers of not only finished fashion but also many of the materials used to make footwear and apparel shocked U.S.
retailers and brands. Before Trump’s first term, U.S.
companies had started to diversify away from China in response to trade tensions as well as human rights and environmental concerns..
