President Donald Trump sees tariffs as a way to bring more manufacturing to the United States. But Nike and other sneaker companies have tried to move production out of Asia before. WSJ’s Jon Emont describes the cautionary tale of Nike’s attempt to make tens of millions of sneakers using high-tech manufacturing in Guadalajara, Mexico. Annie Minoff hosts. Further Listening: -A Tariff Loophole Just Closed. What That Means for Online Shopping. -China Unleashes a Trade War Arsenal Sign up for WSJ’s free What’s News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Americans love their sneakers. These are blue Adidas Campus O's. I'm literally obsessed with these.
Let me grab the 740B2s and the 1130. This is a pair of Nike Air Mags.
Most of those shoes are made in Asia, in three countries, Vietnam, Indonesia, and China.
And it's been this way for now about 20 years.
That's my colleague, John Emont.
whether it's Adidas or Nike or Under Armour, they're making their shoes in these three countries. And they're kind of the Goldilocks countries for shoes.
That's the way most modern shoemaking is done. Shoes are crafted in factories in Asia by tens of thousands of laborers making relatively low wages. And those shoes are then shipped and sold all over the world. But President Trump would like to change that.
Donald Trump has introduced tariffs on Asian countries, including the three Asian shoemakers we discussed, Vietnam, Indonesia, and China. And the stated purpose of that is to bring back manufacturing to the United States.
Though some of Trump's tariffs have been paused, shoe companies are still facing pressure to move production back home. but actually making shoes in North America would be incredibly tough to pull off. And shoemakers know that from experience.
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