Nike, Adidas and different footwear giants ask Trump for tariff exemption

America’s largest shoe manufacturers are asking President Donald Trump for a tariff reprieve.

The Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America commerce group despatched a letter to the White Home this week asking for an exemption to Trump’s so-called reciprocal tariffs, which the affiliation mentioned pose an “existential menace” to the footwear business. The letter is signed by 76 footwear manufacturers, together with Nike, Adidas, Skechers and Beneath Armour.

“Many corporations making reasonably priced footwear for hardworking decrease and middle-income households can not take up tariff charges this excessive, nor can they cross alongside these prices. With out speedy reduction from the reciprocal tariffs they are going to merely shutter,” reads the letter, which is dated April 29.

“Many orders have been positioned on maintain, and footwear stock for U.S. shoppers might quickly run low,” the commerce group mentioned.

Trump’s wide-sweeping tariffs, introduced on April 2, included levies on a number of nations which are vital sources for footwear suppliers, together with China, Vietnam and Cambodia. Whereas the preliminary tariff charges of greater than 45% for Vietnam and Cambodia have been lowered to 10% for a 90-day interval, the Trump administration has solely ratcheted up duties on Chinese language imports, which are actually topic to an efficient tariff fee of 145%.

Trump’s greater tariffs on dozens of commerce companions are set to renew in early July.

Adidas beforehand warned this week that tariffs would result in greater costs for American shoppers. In late March, earlier than the precise reciprocal tariff charges have been introduced, Nike’s finance chief mentioned international levies and financial uncertainty would end in decrease current-quarter gross sales.

The footwear affiliation’s letter mentioned the business had already been going through important duties on merchandise comparable to youngsters’s sneakers earlier than Trump introduced his broad tariffs. In complete, U.S. footwear corporations will face tariffs ranging between 150% and about 220%, the commerce group mentioned.

“That is an emergency that requires speedy motion and a spotlight. The American footwear business doesn’t have months to regulate enterprise fashions and provide chains whereas absorbing this unprecedented and unexpected tariff regime,” the affiliation wrote.

The group additional warned that the tariffs won’t end in bringing manufacturing again to the U.S., as Trump has promised, as a result of they erase the understanding that companies require as a way to spend money on sourcing modifications.

The White Home didn’t instantly reply to CNBC’s request for remark.