More than nine-tenths of the shoes sold in the United States are imported primarily from China, Vietnam and Indonesia. As a result, the US footwear industry moves the bulk of its imports through West Coast ports.

Trump has said that if he wins the election, he might impose a 60-per cent tariff on all goods imported from China and a general 10-per cent tariff on all other imports.

FDRA president and chief executive officer Matt Priest, during a recent Port of Los Angeles media briefing with the port’s executive director Eugene Seroka, said the US footwear industry will respectfully disagree if a new Trump administration proposes higher tariffs.

Priest said that the US footwear industry has begun moving production out of China and has increased its reliance on alternate suppliers particularly Vietnam, according to domestic media reports.

“So, most of the market share (with) China … has been captured by Vietnam and in partnership with Taiwanese joint venture companies, local Vietnamese companies, even Chinese joint venture companies,” he said.

Priest said the footwear industry is concerned about rising freight rates.

Meanwhile, the Port of Los Angeles processed a healthy 827,757 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in June this year, a 10-per cent increase month on month (MoM) and a less-than-1-per cent rise year on year (YoY). Six months into 2024, the Port of Los Angeles is 14 per cent ahead of the previous year.

Imports through the Port of Los Angeles in June were 428,753 TEUs compared with 435,307 TEUs in June last year, while exports in the month were 122,515 TEUs compared to 108,050 TEUs in June 2023.

Meanwhile, the Port of Long Beach moved 842,446 TEUs in June, up by 41.1 per cent YoY and surpassing the previous record set in June 2022 by 7,034 TEUs. Imports at the port jumped by 53 per cent YoY to 419,698 TEUs and exports rose by 4 per cent YoY to 98,300 TEUs.

The Port of Long Beach has moved 4,291,626 TEUs during the first half of this year—up by 15 per cent from the same period last year.

At the Port of Oakland in Northern California, imports jumped by 26.8 per cent YoY to 84,040 TEUs in June, marking the highest monthly total since August 2022. Exports saw an increase of 22.9 per cent YoY, with 66,540 TEUs transiting in June this year.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)