According to a new article from the Washington Post, Trump’s proposed trade policies could send apparel prices soaring.
Increasing tariffs, pulling out of trade agreements, and punishing American companies that move jobs overseas are just a few of the changes Trump has put forward – all of which would greatly affect the retail landscape and, in turn, the prices of merchandise.
As the article points out, tariffs on imported apparel are already significantly higher than on other types of imported consumer goods such as oil and cars, which average a mere 1.5% taxation rate, compared to 32% for some clothing items and 67% for footwear.
Were Trump’s policies to be enacted, even higher tariffs, and the expense of re-routing supply chains, would force many outsourcing American retailers to raise prices. And while the hope would be that those retailers’ supply chains would be re-routed back to the US, given how dramatically that would increase production costs, and how few American factories there are that can handle the volume of production those companies require, it’s very unlikely that would occur.
You can read more about how Trump’s policies may increase apparel costs at The Washington Post.
