Fashion
Trump’s Trade War Is Killing American Blue Jeans
- Struggling U.S. industry becomes pawn in Trump’s trade war
- ‘A slap in the face’ and ‘another blow,’ manufacturers say
Victor Lytvinenko is thumbing through emails on his iPhone trying to find the one that best shows the damage the global trade war has already done to his little, decade-old American jeans company.
The 37-year-old -- dressed in a black t-shirt, rolled-up blue jeans and a pair of Stan Smiths -- eventually looks up after finding the message. It’s from a customer in Scotland who’s apologizing for canceling an order worth tens of thousands of dollars. The reason? The shop owner balked at paying an additional 25 percent tariff the European Union slapped on American-made jeans in June as part of its response to President Donald Trump’s duties on steel and aluminum.