Steve Madden announces plan to 'rapidly' move production out of China following Trump election win
As President-elect Trump’s proposed tariffs loom over the U.S. economy, one popular shoe company is already planning to move production out of China.
Steve Madden’s CEO announced on a post-earnings call Thursday — less than 48 hours after Trump’s victory — that the retailer has put a "plan into motion" that cuts Chinese sourcing up to 45%.
"You should expect to see the percentage of goods that we source from China to begin to come down more rapidly going forward," CEO Edward Rosenfeld said.
The trendy shoe retailer also noted it would focus more of its operations at factory bases in Brazil, Mexico, Vietnam and Cambodia.
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"Just under half of our current business would be potentially subject to tariffs on Chinese imports (if Trump decides to impose tariffs when he takes office in January)," another company executive said, according to Reuters.
"Our goal over the next year is to reduce the percentage of goods we source from China by approximately 40% to 45%," the executive added.
Since February, Trump has honed in on using tariffs as a strategic negotiation policy. The former president has floated a tariff of 20% on goods from other countries and 60% on imports from China. During a sit-down interview with Maria Bartiromo, Trump confirmed that his tariff plan would be used as a leveraging tool, and suggested imposing a 200% tax on vehicles from Mexico.
"I think Trump will pursue this more as a bargaining chip than as a cudgel to necessarily broadly punish different countries," The Lonski Group President and founder John Lonski said in reaction on "Mornings with Maria" on Friday.
"He's going to go to China and say, 'Listen, unless you make some changes in your trade practices, unless you become less belligerent, you are going to be facing higher tariffs.' And why not use tariffs as a bargaining chip? I see no reason not to do so," he continued.
Lonski expanded on the macroeconomic impact: "As far as the United States economy is concerned, it's absolutely madness if we don't take steps to protect industries that are vital to national security. This isn't only a defense, but it's also [for] some of the pharmaceutical industries, the production of drugs. We can't become overly reliant on foreign supplies."