President Donald Trump on Saturday put in place tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico and China as a retail trade groups raised concerns for what the levy could mean to consumers.
The president’s order levies a 25 percent tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico, while goods from China will see a 10 percent tax. The administration said the tax is being levied in response to what it called a national emergency stemming from the drug trade and illegal immigration.
The National Retail Federation, a trade group for retailers, expressed concern over the tariffs and called it a “serious step.”
“We strongly encourage all parties to continue negotiating to find solutions that will strengthen trade relationships and avoid shifting the costs of shared policy failures onto the backs of American families, workers and small businesses,” the retail trade group’s Executive Vice President of Government Relations David French said in a statement Saturday.
The American Apparel & Footwear Association called out against the tariffs, with President and CEO Steve Lamar on Saturday accusing the administration of a “damaging tit-for-tat tariff war.”
“During this time of high inflation, this is not the time to impose new costs on U.S. supply chains,” AAFA Senior Vice President of Policy Nate Herman said in a statement. “Instead, our industry needs tariff relief and commitment to smart trade policy and strong trade partnerships.”
Apparel Execs on Tariffs
Apparel and retail companies’ work in more recent years to diversify their supply chains could help insulate them from the administration’s latest move.
Executives from companies that reported quarterly updates over the past week didn’t express concern over the possibility of tariffs.
San Francisco-based Levi Strauss & Co. said on Wednesday less than one percent of its product is being imported from China and about 5 percent from Mexico, according to CFO and Growth Officer Harmit Singh
“It’s not material,” Singh told analysts. “And if there is a change in the tariff structure, we’ll be able to address that….”
Denver-based VF Corp. also expressed little concern about tariffs when the company reported its quarterly results this past week. VF owns Vans, The North Face, Dickies and Timberland.
“We have very minimal exposure of things coming out of China, Mexico, Canada. So, the impact for us is very, very small,” VF Chief Financial Officer Paul Vogel said during the company’s quarterly earnings call.
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