Shoe retailers, including Nike and Adidas, have written a letter to the White House begging President Donald Trump not to raise tariffs on footwear imported from China.
President Trump’s tariffs are devastating news for Nike, the sportswear giant that produces the vast bulk of it’s products in Chinese sweatshops, before selling them at huge profits in the US market, and paying far-left celebrities including Colin Kaepernick to market them.
It comes after the White House last week released a fresh list of about $300 billion in Chinese goods that could get hit with 25% tariffs, if Trump decides to move forward with his threat. The list includes footwear — everything from sneakers to sandals, golf shoes, rain boots and ski shoes.
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CNBC report: The U.S. imported $11.4 billion worth of footwear from China last year, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, making it an industry incredibly reliant on the country for its cheaper yet skilled labor.
Nike, Adidas and Under Armour, among other sneaker makers, have steadily been easing their reliance on China, shifting production to places like Vietnam instead.
But “footwear is a very capital-intensive industry, with years of planning required to make sourcing decisions, and companies cannot simply move factories to adjust to these changes,” the letter sent to Trump said.
The White House didn’t immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
President Trump’s tariffs are the latest blow to the virtue-signaling sportswear giant, after a #BoycottNike campaign wiped almost $4.2 billion off the company’s market cap.
