Liberation Day announcement offers promise of economic strain for Americans

The American Apparel & Footwear Association responds to new reciprocal tariffs announced by the White House.

With the tariffs announced today, all major suppliers of apparel, footwear, and travel goods are now facing higher tariffs.

Steve Lamar, President and CEO of AAFA, expressed concern over this tariff approach, stating: "To be clear, tariffs are taxes borne by the American companies that import the goods and the hardworking American families that buy those goods. Before today’s so-called ‘Liberation Day,’ the average tariff on clothes, shoes, and accessories, necessities every American must buy, was already more than five times higher than on other U.S. imports. True liberation would have involved eliminating this high tariff burden and relieving U.S. consumers of its regressive and misogynistic effects, rather than layering on more costs that fuel inflation. While we welcome President Trump’s focus on reducing foreign trade barriers, we need to reduce America’s high trade barriers as well and do so in a predictable manner that enables long-term investment and supply chain decisions. For companies that had been in a ‘wait and see’ mode, the chaos of the last few months, coupled with the confusion from today’s announcement has only created more uncertainty.

"While the President touts ‘America First’ policies, this tariff plan overlooks its destructive impact it will have on the U.S. manufacturers in our industry. These American companies depend on foreign inputs which have no, or very few, American substitutes. Tariffs will significantly increase the cost of manufacturing in the U.S., and, when paired with the retaliatory tariffs that will surely come, will undermine U.S. export opportunities as well."