Tariffs. On January 20th, one of the biggest moments in American history will happen. The presidential elect Donald Trump will assume office and enter the Whitehouse. One of his biggest policies he will try to implace are countless tariffs on countries who are vital for the fashion supply chain, as well as other things that are more important. Such as our food supply chain, automotive supply chain, medical supply chain, et cetera. But this is an article relating to the fashion industry.
First things first. What is a tariff? A tariff is a tax that is placed upon imported goods and services. For example, clothing. Tariffs are mainly used as a tool which countries use to influence other countries and their decisions when it comes to what they do to the country that imposes these tariffs. These tariffs are then paid by the importer who brings in the goods from the exporting country. These costs that the importer has to use to pay off the tariff then are included when the customer is shopping for the item. This makes it so that the customer actually pays more when it comes to purchasing goods from countries who export with tariffs imposed on them. Which is what this article will be about. Let’s name some of the biggest countries that I will be talking about that are in close relation to the garment industry/fashion industry. Namely China. China has been the leading trading partner with the US ever since 1979 with the US and China finally opening relationships when it comes to trade. Now, the US trades over $750 Billion dollars annually with China. In May of 2021 China accounted for just over 13% of US Imports. This was significantly lower as just five years beforehand China’s reach into the United States’ basket of importing goods was just slightly above 20%. The two countries who leapt over China in 2021 were Canada with 15% and Mexico with 16% of America’s imports being from both of its neighbors. The two that are more closely tied to the garment and fashion industry are China and Mexico of course. Recently Trump proposed a 25% increase on all goods that come across America’s southern border from Mexico. This tariff could increase the cost of goods that are manufactured in Mexico. And who knows what will happen. Will manufacturing of clothing come back to the United States? That is what Trump thinks will happen. Per CBS News, Trump believes that companies that do not want to pay for these overbearing tariffs will come to the United States, “right away.” Trump also has imposed tariffs beforehand, and during that time jobs actually dropped inside of the US. “This could have been for other reasons though as well,” says CBS News. But I would think that some of the job loss has been from the tariffs that the companies have to pay. When it comes to importing raw materials, as well as shipping costs across the US, as well as then exporting the finished product to other countries who impose counter tariffs on the US. It is just a cycle of more money being paid, and more money going to the government, and not to the workers, and it will just raise costs in general. Steve Madden has actually even said that if Trump proposes tariffs on China the company will start manufacturing more in Vietnam and Cambodia. The countries that import the most textiles to the US are China, Vietnam, India, Bangladesh, and Indonesia, and then Mexico. Who knows what other countries he might try to place import tariffs on. Trump believes that through tariffs the tax cuts can be balanced and bring money into the US that way. As Goldman Sachs analyzed and calculated that every year a 25% tax on Canada and Mexico and a raised 10% tariff on Canada would bring in 300 billion dollars per year to the US government. Not to the average citizen of the United States. Who knows what then Trump will use that money for. Defense? Education? The “Border Crisis”? I have no clue. I just hope that it is used to benefit the American people as we will be paying more for things that come from these countries.
Let’s also talk about deportation for a second. Especially in the agricultural sector of America. From Newsweek, 50 percent of all agriculture workers inside of the US are illegal immigrants. These workers that work for a fair wage and do work that is needed to keep America running are threatened by the new president elect that their jobs might get taken, and that they will be sent back to the countries that they are from. Who will replace these jobs? Whoever will come in and work in these fields? If we get foreign agricultural exports, who will be sending us more food? Mexico? Canada? China? Brazil? All of these countries that are threatened by Trump and his administration on tariffs, who knows what they will do in return. Canada has already threatened to take away 1.8 million people’s power in the northern part of America if Trump imposes tariffs on them. Who knows what will happen.
Now other tariffs that might be imposed. Trump has told the BRICS group that if they threaten to diminish the US Dollar, or replace the US dollar with a new currency, that he will impose a 100% tariff to all nations. These nations that are the most major and are in the name are, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. As well as smaller members that are Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates. With over 50 more countries wanting to join in the future. The BRICS group was made to combat the American Dollar and its influence using real materials instead such as gold and silver. With these nations also being big manufacturers of garments. I will talk about India. India is a country that Trump does not have a good relationship with. In 2019 India was removed from the Generalized System of Preferences. Thus, taking the country out of the label of a least developed country. Taking over $5.7 billion of duty-free imports away from India. These imports which bolstered the Indian economy and helped them develop are now gone. Although Trump does have a good relationship with India, that does not mean that he would not change his mind at any given moment. This group that is BRICS could stand as a roadblock to the American dollar’s influence. Although the US dollar already has a fair amount of sway in India, Trump could see anything as a microaggression and essentially make all of the exports from India have a heightened cost. The main things that India exports to the US are textiles, pharmaceuticals and also IT Services. With this being said, who knows what will happen as well to all of the other states that also import goods to the United States. Specifically raw goods and things like that. I guess we will see in the next year how everything turns out.
In conclusion, the cost of our goods will go up. Side tangent, Trump actually ran on cutting down the prices of everything. A big part of his campaign was literally getting items that were necessities for everyday Americans down. But recently he came out and said in an interview with Times Magazine after being named the person of the year that bringing down groceries will be a “hard task.” This is after he literally RAN on the fact that he will bring down groceries. As Mexico and Canada are a big importer of our foreign agricultural goods as well as China. Even Brazil has a big impact on the meat industry, of which is part of BRICS. I digress, but a button that is made in China that you will use for your fashion design project will go up from 20 cents to 22 cents. That does not seem like a lot, but the price will go up. The fabric that is made in China, the shirt made in Mexico, all of it will go up in price. Your goods will cost more, the price will rise, and you will be paying more. Trump will not cut the lower and middle classes taxes. As seen in his first time as president he did not do that the first time. He cut taxes across every income level, but the tax bracket that was most affected was the upper-class bracket. $578,000 and above. Making these people essentially pay less money than before, unbalancing the scale. Adding $2.5 TRILLION dollars into our debt out of his 8.6 TRILLION that he added in his four-year term. Who knows where the money that is raised from the people who pay for these goods that have been tariffed, and that will be paid to the government will go to. I believe that most likely the money will be used to fund companies that do research that are held by the billionaires of America who support Trump. Like Elon Musk and SpaceX or Vivek Ramaswamy’s pharmaceutical company. This should not be happening to our country. I love living in America and having the freedom to write about what I love and explain my thoughts. But I think that in the next year, I could possibly be censored. I know that this to some people might not be possible but just as ABC just paid Trump 15 million dollars for defamation, when FOX has done things even worse, or JD Vance literally creating lies about Haitian people. This man, who looks up to the leaders of North Korea, Hungary, and other nations now has the biggest job in the world. The biggest economy, the most influential, most powerful, and most risky job that anyone can have. He is the man that will determine the outcome for the world in the next four years. We gave it to an old man who is a billionaire. I wish the best for my fellow Americans and remember that everyone lives once.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-tariffs-mexico-canada-china-truth-social/
https://www.newsweek.com/undocumented-farm-workers-wedge-between-republicans-1799242
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