US trade organisations commend Trump’s comments on sneaker and T-shirt production

Leading US fashion and textile organisations have backed recent comments by president Donald Trump in which he suggested that his stringent tariff policies were “not focused on driving sneaker and T-shirt production to the US”.

A joint letter – signed by the American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA), Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America (FDRA), Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) and U.S. Fashion Industry Association (USFIA) – has said Trump was “absolutely right” in stating that his tariffs on imports from other countries were not intended to help scale up the domestic footwear and apparel industry.

Speaking to reporters last week, Trump responded to a speech by treasury secretary Scott Bessent earlier in April, who said that the US does not need a “booming textile industry”. Trump agreed with Bessent’s comments, and noted that his tariff policy was instead aimed at promoting the domestic manufacturing of tanks and technology products.

“I’m not looking to make T-shirts, to be honest. I’m not looking to make socks. We can do that very well in other locations. We are looking to do chips and computers and lots of other things, and tanks and ships,” Trump told reporters in New Jersey.

Call for reduction in tariff burden on apparel and footwear sector

While the letter addressed to Trump expresses gratitude for acknowledging “real-world challenges” the fashion and textiles industries face, the organisations underlined that these sectors “have operated under a substantial tariff burden — the highest of any sector”, for decades.

The average tariff rate on consumer goods sits at just over 2 percent, contrasting the average apparel and footwear tariff rates, which exceed 14.5 and 12 percent, respectively. “These costs ultimately fall on American families, limiting those families from participating in essential activities such as work, recreation, sports, and fitness, all activities that support mentally and physically healthier Americans and help boost the US economy,” the letter notes.

It continued: “As much as our members would love to manufacture more footwear and apparel in the US, closer to our US consumers, it is simply not feasible to do so at scale right now due to significant supply chain, labor, and cost constraints. Tariff policy cannot overcome these obstacles, especially when it is imposing new costs on existing manufacturers in our industry.”

The organisations are thus calling on Trump to adopt a “pragmatic framework that reduces the tariff burden on footwear and apparel, increases high-value jobs for US workers, and provides relief to hardworking American families”.