Steve Madden to cut Chinese imports by almost half in wake of Trump re-election

The chief executive officer of Steve Madden, Edward Rosenfeld, has told investors that the company could reduce the amount of goods it imports from China by as much as 45 percent in the wake of Donald Trump’s re-election.

His comments, which came during a Q3 earnings call, are in regards to Trump’s plan to raise tariffs on Chinese imports by up to 100 percent upon the President-elect’s return to office.

As such, Rosenfeld said that the footwear company had been “planning for a potential scenario in which we would have to move goods out of China more quickly”, with factories in the likes of Vietnam, Mexico and Brazil being explored as potential alternatives.

“As of yesterday morning [Wednesday, when the Presidential race was officially called], we are putting that plan into motion,” Rosenfeld said on Thursday. “And you should expect to see the percentage of goods that we sourced from China to begin to come down more rapidly going forward.”

Currently, imports into the US account for around two-thirds of Steve Madden’s business, with 70 percent of those being sourced from China, leaving almost half of the business’ overall goods at risk of tariff hikes.

Rosenfeld said that by a year from October 7 he wants to reduce this percentage by approximately 40 to 45 percent, leaving just a quarter of the business subject to the proposed Chinese tariffs.