Nike, Adidas among 170 footwear companies urging Trump not to raise tariffs

A group of more than 170 companies, including major brands such as Nike and Adidas, are urging President Trump to remove footwear from a list of Chinese products that could be hit with tariffs.

“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 companies wrote in a letter to Trump.

The U.S. trade representative’s office earlier this month released a list of about $300 billion in Chinese products that the administration is proposing to hit with tariffs. The list includes shoes, clothing, food items and agricultural products.

The proposed tariffs come as Trump’s trade war with China has escalated in recent weeks. The administration earlier this month increased tariffs on about $200 billion in Chinese goods, and China reacted by raising tariffs on $60 billion of U.S. goods.

Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on all goods imported from China and has argued that China will be most hurt from the taxes. But many businesses have been speaking out and warning that U.S. customers would be hurt by the tariffs.

The footwear companies said that “there should be no misunderstanding” that tariffs result in consumers paying more for products. The businesses also said that “high footwear tariff rates fall disproportionately on working class individuals and families.”

The companies pointed to an estimate from the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America finding that the proposed 25 percent tariff could increase costs for their customers by $7 billion annually. They also said they can’t quickly move their sourcing from China to other countries in the wake of the tariff threats.

“While our industry has been moving away from China for some time now, 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 companies said.

“Your proposal to add tariffs on all imports from China is asking the American consumer to foot the bill,” the companies added. “It is time to bring this trade war to an end.”