Nike, Adidas: Tariffs will be ‘catastrophic’

Nike Inc., Adidas AG and other footwear giants urged President Donald Trump to reconsider his tariffs on shoes made in China, saying the policy would be “catastrophic for our consumers, our companies and the American economy as a whole.”

In all, 173 companies signed an open letter to the president, dated Monday and posted on the industry trade association’s website. It was also sent to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow.

“On behalf of our hundreds of millions of footwear consumers and hundreds of thousands of employees, we ask that you immediately stop this action to increase their tax burden,” the group said. “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 shoe industry’s trade association, the Footwear Distributors & Retailers of America, estimates that the tariffs would cost U.S. customers an additional $7 billion per year. The companies said in their letter that those costs would disproportionately affect working-class individuals.