Incoming US president Donald Trump has said he will impose 25% tariffs on goods coming from Mexico and Canada from his first day in office (January 20), as well as an additional 10% (at least) on China.
Automotive leather tanners could be affected: many carmakers and manufacturers assemble cars and make components in Mexico, which are then sent over the border to be finished or sold in the US.
Figures from the Mexican Automotive Manufacturers Association show the combined exports to the US from the top 10 carmakers totalled around 1.3 million vehicles between January and July this year.
When Trump was last in power, he imposed high tariffs on China, which retaliated with similar tariffs; these have mainly stayed in place.
In 2022, the Footwear Distributors & Retailers of America asked the Biden administration to repeal tariffs on Chinese footwear to give relief to the household budgets of US families. Around 70% of US shoes are from China, with measures costing US consumers an additional $7 billion per year, it said at the time.
The Leather and Hide Council of America (LHCA) has also previously called for a review of trade policy with China and to remove tariffs on exports and imports between the two countries.
In the first nine months of 2024, China imported 710,000 wet blue hides from the US with a value of $67.5 million.
A Chinese embassy spokesperson told Reuters that “no one will win a trade war or a tariff war”.
Photo by Chris Linnett on Unsplash
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