Retailers Aren’t Backing Either Candidate

According to a new article from Retail Dive, stark differences in the economic proposals of US Presidential candidates, Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton, are leaving the retail sector uncertain about its future.

There are three key issues the industry is most concerned with: trade, tax reform, and labor.

On the trade front, passing the Trans-Pacific Partnership is a top priority for many retailers. However, both candidates are against it, with Clinton suggesting revision, and Trump going so far as to call it a “rape” of the American manufacturing industry. If the TPP were to get scrapped all together, increased tariffs would hit apparel and home goods companies that source and produce overseas the hardest.

As for tax reform, Trump wants to reduce corporate tax from 35% to 15%, which, according to the pro-corporate, anti-regulation National Retail Federation (NRF), would increase consumer spending, retail investment, and job creation. Clinton has not disclosed an exact figure yet.

And while both candidates support a minimum wage increase, Trump’s preferred wage is lower than Clinton’s, and he has also suggested that he would dismantle a number of employee-benefitting / industry-opposed labor regulations, such as the new overtime rules.

For these reasons, neither of the leading retail organizations, the aforementioned NRF and the Retail Industry Leaders Association, will endorse either candidate – but both have said they will still, “work with whomever is chosen to lead the country.”

You can read more about how each candidate’s policies could potentially effect the retail industry at Retail Dive.

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