The clothes you buy will get more expensive when President Trump’s new sky-high tariffs on imports from around the world take effect
According to a 2024 report from the American Apparel and Footwear Association, the U.S. gets 97% percent of its apparel and shoes from other countries, according to a 2024 report from the American Apparel & Footwear Association.
Trump has hit hardest with tariff rates on countries that supply Americans with clothes: Tariffs for top clothing and footwear producing countries are:
China 104%
Vietnam 46%
India 26%
Bangladesh 37%
Indonesia 32%
As an example, popular brand Nike operates manufacturing plants in Vietnam, Indonesia and China. Based on tariff and where the particular shoe is manufactured, a Nike shoe currently priced $57.60 (Vietnam) to $187.20 (China) could bump up for a price range of $237.60 to $367.20.
A big part of the reasoning behind the tariffs is to bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. If it becomes prohibitively expensive to import things, companies will decide to make them here, the thinking goes.
The problem is, making clothing in factories isn’t at the top of anyone’s bring-back list.
The cost of labor in the U.S. is far higher than it is abroad, and the supply of people willing to do low-wage work is lower with the demographics of the aging population – a situation that could worsen with an immigration crackdown.
Yes, but: “Access to cheap goods is not the essence of the American dream,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently said.
And many advocates for workers around the world have long railed against the conditions in overseas factories that make clothing less expensive to purchase.