Trump’s Tariffs to Send Footwear Prices Skyrocketing

If you’re in the market for new shoes, maybe buy them soon. According to CBS News, those tariffs Trump keeps threatening China with will cause a huge increase in the price of footwear.

The “tariff increase to 25% on footwear not already subject to [Trump’s] existing tariffs could cost consumers $7 billion more a year,” the story reported, because, despite what Trump thinks, THAT’S HOW TARIFFS WORK. As CBS explains, “tariffs are paid by domestic companies, which often pass the cost to consumers in the form of higher prices.”

As footwear brands are already paying “some of the highest duties,” the industry is “close to united in its opposition” to the tariffs, and more than 170 companies — including Nike, Teva, Foot Locker, and Under Armour — wrote a letter to Trump warning of “catastrophic consequences.”

(They also sent the letter to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Wlibur Ross and National Economic Council Director — and sentient bad idea — Larry Kudlow, presumably due to Trump’s well documented distaste for reading.)

“This significant tax increase, in the form of tariffs, would impact every type of shoe and every single segment of our society,” the letter said, “adding that the tariffs would ask ‘the American consumer to foot the bill.’” Punz!

For those into specifics, the estimated bill-footing would look like this: the average price of running shoes would go from $150 to $206.25; basketball sneakers would jump almost $50, from $130 to $178.74; $50 canvas skate shoes would run you $65.57; hunting boots would be $248.56, up from $190 and workboots would come in around $165.45 instead of $140.

You can read more about it at CBS News.

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