Nike, Adidas Call Tariffs 'Catastrophic' in Letter to Trump
Nike Inc., Adidas AG and other footwear companies urged President Donald Trump to reconsider his tariffs on shoes made in China, saying the policy would be “catastrophic for our consumers, our companies and the American economy as a whole.”
In all, 173 companies signed an open letter to the U.S. president, dated Monday and posted on the industry trade association’s website. “On behalf of our hundreds of millions of footwear consumers and hundreds of thousands of employees, we ask that you immediately stop this action,” the group said.
The protest comes as U.S.-China trade tensions escalate and Trump threatens to impose tariffs as high as 25% on Chinese goods -- including all types of footwear, from sneakers to sandals. While the industry has moved production away from China in recent years because of rising wages, shifting trade policies and a desire to make more goods at home in the U.S. and Europe, the Asian country remains a shoe giant.
Tariffs are an especially touchy subject within the footwear industry because shoe companies already pay some of the highest duties in the U.S., thanks to longstanding tariffs that in some cases surpass 30%.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-20/nike-adidas-call-tariffs-catastrophic-in-open-letter-to-trump
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