Nike and Adidas were joined by more than 170 other companies in condemning the recently imposed tariffs against China, which were put forward by President Donald Trump.
In an open letter signed by 173 companies belonging to the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America, the companies stated quite plainly that the “proposed additional tariff of 25 percent on footwear would be catastrophic for our consumers, our companies, and the American economy as a whole.”
The letter was addressed to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, and National Economic Council director Larry Kudlow. Trump was also an intended recipient of the letter sent by the FDRA, Bloomberg reported.
More than 170 shoe retailers, including Nike and Foot Locker, are asking President Trump not to raise tariffs on footwear. https://t.co/jiZRrcqQzg
— CNBC (@CNBC) May 20, 2019
Trump has previously (and erroneously) stated that China would pay for the increases in tariffs his administration implemented earlier this month, according to reporting from the Washington Post. But the letter from the retail companies corrected the president’s assumptions, pointing out that consumers, not China, would be hit with the levies imposed.
“Your proposal to add tariffs on all imports from China is asking the American consumer to foot the bill. It is time to bring this trade war to an end,” the letter stated.
The tariffs would actually hurt footwear retailers harder than most companies in the U.S., the organization warned.
“High footwear tariff rates fall disproportionately on working-class individuals and families. While U.S. tariffs on all consumer goods average just 1.9 percent, they average 11.3 percent for footwear and reach rates as high as 67.5 percent,” the letter noted.
The FDRA went onto say that “a 25 percent tax increase on top of these tariffs would mean some working American families could pay a nearly 100 percent duty on their shoes.”
In addition to the tariffs imposed by the United States on China, Beijing has also announced it plans to impose $60 billion in additional tariffs on Washington in the next month, according to a report from CNN.