Fashion and Retail Groups Outraged Over the Return of ‘Tariff Man’

“Tariff Man” is back and the wider retail world is not happy about it. Representatives of both importers and U.S. textile companies — two groups that rarely see eye to eye on trade issues — voiced their fury after President Donald Trump once again used trade tariffs to assert the United States’ power on the global stage. This time, however, it was not China on the receiving end, but Mexico, with Trump unexpectedly threatening to place levies on all Mexican imports, starting June 10, if the country fails to curb illegal immigration at the southern border. “This is unfathomable,” Rick Helfenbein, president and chief executive officer of the American Apparel & Footwear Association, said of the 5 percent levies, which will rise gradually until reaching 25 percent in October. “More than 200,000 jobs in our industry, and countless more across the United States depend on strong trade linkages with Mexico.” He stressed that the hundreds of apparel, footwear, and sewn products companies and their suppliers that the AAFA represents are already bracing themselves for incoming 25 percent tariffs on Chinese imports and now have to grapple with the prospect of yet more tariffs on Mexican imports. As well as disrupting retailers that already have operations

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