Trump Tariffs A Stone In The Shoe Of 'Made In USA' Cowboy Boots
The manufacture of iconic "made in the USA" cowboy boots is set to suffer from President Donald Trump's 30 percent tariffs on South African exports due to come into force on Friday.
Texas's most renowned makers of the southern US fashion staple source the ostrich leather they require exclusively from the small South African town of Oudtshoorn, 400 kilometres (250 miles) east of Cape Town.
Known as the world's "ostrich capital", Oudtshoorn is nestled in the semi-arid Little Karoo valley just inland from the southern coast, and is home to a few hundred thousand people and about as many of the giant flightless birds.
"We just don't know how bad the impact will be, but positive it wouldn't be," said ostrich farmer Laubscher Coetzee of the tariffs expected to kick in on August 1 after South Africa appeared unable to negotiate a new trade deal with Trump.
More than half of the global supply of ostrich-derived products -- from feathers to leather and meat -- comes from nearly 200 farmers around Oudtshoorn who are joined in the Cape Karoo International (CKI) group, said its managing director Francois de Wet.
South Africa as a whole supplies about 70 percent of the world's production, he said.
Luxury handbag manufacturers in France and Italy are among the CKI's main clients. It also ships 20 percent of its ostrich leather to top Texas bootmakers such as Lucchese, Justin, and Rios of Mercedes.
'Best for boots'
Ostrich is "the best skin to build boots", according to Ryan Vaughan, CEO of the Rios of Mercedes manufacturer, which was set up in Texas in 1853.
"It moulds and forms to your foot. It is extremely durable. It has a lot of natural oils in it, so you don't have to care for it very much," he said in a video posted in June.
Another iconic brand, Justin, boasts its celebrated boots are "made in USA with global parts".
And legendary bootmaker Lucchese told AFP that it had handmade its footwear in Texas for 141 years but had to "look beyond our borders for additional partners and raw materials as needed".
"At this time, we are still deciphering the impacts of the current tariffs on our products and production," it said in a statement.
De Wet from the CKI said he believed the South African supply of ostrich leather to the US manufacturers did not run counter to a push by the Trump administration for production to be brought home.
The United States did not have enough ostriches to provide the required leather, he said.
"We export the raw material, the ostrich leather. They can't produce it from local ostriches in the US. They don't have them," he told AFP.
"They do all the value-adding in the United States," he said. "So therefore, in terms of the pure definition of what the Trump administration would like to see, in this case, we do it already."
Shared cost
The soft skins, recognisable by spots left by the large ostrich feathers, are currently sold to American manufacturers for around $20 a square foot.
"We exported more than the usual volume of ostrich leather to the US in the past two-three months, so we have a little bit of a buffer," said de Wet.
"For the moment we don't expect any layoffs in the short term," he said. But "in the long term, if we have to pick up the full tariff, it will definitely ... cause a shrinkage of our business."
The consumer could also not be expected to pay an extra 30 percent for the already pricey boots, he said.
"So the tariff will have to be split between the exporter... and the importer, and preferably also a part paid by the end consumer."
It is the unique climate of the Little Karoo, which gets less than 400 millimetres (nearly 16 inches) of rain a year, that makes it ideal for ostrich rearing, said Coetzee, a fourth-generation Oudtshoorn farmer.
"That is the reason the ostrich industry is still here 200 years after (it started)," he said.
His great-grandfather built the family home in 1896, when the price of ostrich feathers rivalled that of gold because of their value to the women's fashion industry.
The extravagant "ostrich palaces" of the time are a reminder of the industry's previous major crisis, when the market collapsed in the early 1900s as the arrival of the low-roofed motor car ended the fashion for high-feathered hats.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
&w=3840&q=100)
First Post
29 minutes ago
- First Post
Donald Trump has failed to bring peace to Ukraine and Gaza. Here's why
US President Donald Trump now seems to be fed up with Vladimir Putin, whom he had praised incessantly in the past, over the Ukraine war. He is also struggling to get a handle on Gaza, which many people around the world have for months claimed is a genocide, amid visuals and reports about people facing mass starvation. Yet, he has succeeded in negotiating some ceasefires. So, what explains his failures in Ukraine and Gaza? read more US President Donald Trump has taken a harsher line on Vladimir Putin recently. Reuters File Donald Trump surprised many by giving Vladimir Putin just 10 days to reach a peace deal with Ukraine. Trump's original 50-day deadline was panned by many including leaders of Nato nations and Republicans. However, Trump now seems to be fed up with Putin, whom he had praised incessantly in the past, over the Ukraine war. Trump is also struggling to get a handle on Gaza, which many people around the world have for months claimed is a genocide, amid visuals and reports about people facing mass starvation. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD However, Trump has had some successes. For example, the Trump government in June managed to broker a ceasefire between Rwanda and Congo. Trump also announced he had urged the leaders of Cambodia and Thailand to come to a ceasefire in July. What explains this? So, what's the reason behind his failures to bring peace to Ukraine and Gaza? Trump has been successful in cases where he has leverage. For example, Trump Clearly told Thailand in Cambodia that there would be no trade negotiations until the ceasefire was reached, However, when it comes to Ukraine, Trump does not have any leverage over Putin . Russia has already brushed aside the threat of sanctions. Besides, Trump has done little to follow through on his threats. The intricacies involved in the Ukraine and Gaza situations may also be a factor. Trump, for example, seems to still be entertaining the notion of striking a deal with China and Russia to limit each of their spheres of influence. In West Asia, Trump needs to tread carefully given America's current alliance with Israel. He also needs to take into account his Maga base and their motivations. (File) US President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, US, April 7, 2025. Reuters Conversely, the Rwanda-Congo deal was a simpler matter. Trump brokered the peace in exchange for US investors getting access to the DRC's minerals. The third and final factor is that simpler solutions are easier to achieve. Thailand and Cambodia can simply revert to type. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD It is ultimately also in the interests of the conflict parties. They have had a chance to make their violent statements and reinforce what they will and won't tolerate from the other side. The required investment by an external mediator to end battles that have achieved what the warring sides want anyway – to avoid further escalation – is consequently quite limited. Attention to detail Bringing peace to Ukraine and West Asia also requires prolonged engagement and attention to detail. These conflicts are at a stage in which a return to how things were before is not in the interests of the parties or their external backers. Nudging warring parties along on the path to agreement under such conditions requires a well-designed process, which is absent in Ukraine and failing in Gaza. Thanks to funding and personnel cuts, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, is now required to perform multiple roles. Trump relies on personal envoys with at best limited foreign policy expertise, while insisting he makes all the decisions. This ultimately suggests that the White House simply may not have the bandwidth for the level of engagement that would be necessary to get to a deal in Ukraine and the Middle East. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD This is a self-inflicted opportunity lost, not only for the United States but also for the long-suffering people of Ukraine and West Asia. Stefan Wolff is a professor of International Security, University of Birmingham This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Hans India
29 minutes ago
- Hans India
Bangladesh a 'failed State' under Yunus, ripe for terrorists: Report
New York: Muhammad Yunus's transition from economist to head of Bangladesh's interim government has proven fatal for Bangladesh as the rise of radical Islamic influence under his watch threatens to transform the country from a secular democracy into a theocratic state, a leading American think tank detailed on Friday. The political situation under Yunus reveals a government sliding into being another failed state, ripe for terrorists, and unable to chart a constructive course, a Gatestone Institute report highlighted. "Since assuming power in August 2024, Yunus has presided over a nation sliding into political chaos, radical Islamism, economic distress and social fragmentation. Bangladesh has devolved into a governance crisis that threatens Bangladesh's economic stability and democratic future," it stated. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the Islamist party Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami are two of the main beneficiaries of the protests led by the Students Against Discrimination which led to the ousting of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in August, 2024. Since then, the secular forces in Bangladesh represented by Hasina's Awami League party have faced a backlash. "Organisations such as Hizb ut-Tahrir openly rally for a caliphate, while Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh, a Deobandi Islamist advocacy group, pushes against women's rights. Mufti Syed Muhammad Faizul Karim, who is the leader of the radical Islamist Jamaat-Char Monai, stated that his party wants to implement Islamic Sharia law and redesign the nation's system of governance based on Taliban-style rule in Afghanistan. The passive response of Yunus's interim government to these demands signals either weakness or tacit approval of the country's Islamization," the report highlighted. As minorities, especially Hindus, continue to fight for their survival in Bangladesh, the report detailed the interim government's failure to protect them, calling it as its most damaging moral failure. "Despite Yunus's attempts to downplay the violence against Hindu minorities and other religious groups, the systematic attacks on these communities have continued and increased. In 2024, at least 100 homes and shops of the indigenous people belonging to the Chakma community were burnt down in Bangladesh's Chittagong Hill Tracts. The Bangladesh Army did not intervene, revealing the government's passive complicity". It added that, despite being an economist, Yunus's most visible failure has been its inability to control spiraling inflation, which reached 10.87 per cent, up from 9.92 per cent in September 2024, with food inflation soaring to catastrophic levels of 14 per cent. "The promise of economic recovery under a Nobel Peace Prize-winning economist, who has been a darling of the US Democratic administrations, has turned into a nightmare for millions of Bangladeshis who struggle with basic necessities as their purchasing power decreases daily," the Gatestone Institute report mentioned. Quiet significantly, spotlighting another big failure of Yunus, the report details how he managed to alienate Bangladesh's most important neighbour and economic partner, India and instead sought courtship of China and Pakistan. "His frequent attacks, blaming India for various domestic problems including floods, demonstrate a tendency to scapegoat rather than solve problems. Meanwhile, his courtship of China and Pakistan reveals a foreign policy that lacks strategic thinking. In April 2025, Yunus invited China to establish an economic base in Bangladesh, stressing that Dhaka is the 'sole guardian of the ocean' in the subcontinent," it says. The warming ties with Pakistan, despite the absence of a formal apology for the 1971 genocide, dishonors the victims of that brutal period, the report added. "As Bangladesh approaches what should be a democratic transition, the country finds itself more divided, economically weaker, and internationally more isolated than at any point. The interim government has failed in its fundamental responsibilities of maintaining law and order, protecting all citizens regardless of religion, preserving press freedom, managing the economy, and preparing for free and fair elections," the report concluded. The political situation under Yunus, it stated, reveals a government sliding into being another failed state, ripe for terrorists, and unable to chart a constructive course.
NDTV
29 minutes ago
- NDTV
Trump Injects New Dose Of Uncertainty In Tariffs As He Pushes Start Date To August 7
Washington: For weeks, President Donald Trump was promising the world economy would change on Friday with his new tariffs in place. It was an ironclad deadline, administration officials assured the public. But when Trump signed the order Thursday night imposing new tariffs, the start date of the punishing import taxes was pushed back seven days so the tariff schedule could be updated. The change in tariffs on 66 countries, the European Union, Taiwan and the Falkland Islands was potentially welcome news to countries that had not yet reached a deal with the U.S. It also injected a new dose of uncertainty for consumers and businesses still wondering what's going to happen and when. Trump told NBC News in a Thursday night interview the tariffs process was going "very well, very smooth." But even as the Republican president insisted these new rates would stay in place, he added: "It doesn't mean that somebody doesn't come along in four weeks and say we can make some kind of a deal." Trump has promised that his tax increases on the nearly $3 trillion in goods imported to the United States will usher in newfound wealth, launch a cavalcade of new factory jobs, reduce the budget deficits and, simply, get other countries to treat America with more respect. The vast tariffs risk jeopardizing America's global standing as allies feel forced into unfriendly deals. As taxes on the raw materials used by U.S. factories and basic goods, the tariffs also threaten to create new inflationary pressures and hamper economic growth - concerns the Trump White House has dismissed. As the clock ticked toward Trump's self-imposed deadline, few things seemed to be settled other than the president's determination to levy the taxes he has talked about for decades. The very legality of the tariffs remains an open question as a U.S. appeals court on Thursday heard arguments on whether Trump had exceeded his authority by declaring an "emergency" under a 1977 law to charge the tariffs, allowing him to avoid congressional approval. Trump was ebullient as much of the world awaited what he would do. "Tariffs are making America GREAT & RICH Again," he said Thursday morning on Truth Social. Others saw a policy carelessly constructed by the U.S. president, one that could impose harms gradually over time that would erode America's power and prosperity. "The only things we'll know for sure on Friday morning are that growth-sapping U.S. import taxes will be historically high and complex, and that, because these deals are so vague and unfinished, policy uncertainty will remain very elevated," said Scott Lincicome, a vice president of economics at the Cato Institute. "The rest is very much TBD." Trump initially imposed the Friday deadline after his previous "Liberation Day" tariffs in April resulted in a stock market panic. His unusually high tariff rates announced then led to recession fears, prompting Trump to impose a 90-day negotiating period. When he was unable to create enough trade deals with other countries, he extended the timeline and sent out letters to world leaders that simply listed rates, prompting a slew of hasty agreements. Swiss imports will now be taxed at a higher rate, 39%, than the 31% Trump threatened in April, while Liechtenstein saw its rate slashed from 37% to 15%. Countries not listed in the Thursday night order would be charged a baseline 10% tariff. Trump negotiated trade frameworks over the past few weeks with the EU, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and the Philippines - allowing the president to claim victories as other nations sought to limit his threat of charging even higher tariff rates. He said Thursday there were agreements with other countries, but he declined to name them. Asked on Friday if countries were happy with the rates set by Trump, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said: "A lot of them are." The EU was awaiting a written agreement on its 15% tariff deal. Switzerland and Norway were among the dozens of countries that did not know what their tariff rate would be, while Trump agreed after a Thursday morning phone call to keep Mexico's tariffs at 25% for a 90-day negotiating period. The president separately on Thursday amended an order to raise certain tariffs on Canada to 35%. European leaders face blowback for seeming to cave to Trump, even as they insist that this is merely the start of talks and stress the importance of maintaining America's support of Ukraine's fight against Russia. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has already indicated that his country can no longer rely on the U.S. as an ally, and Trump declined to talk to him on Thursday. India, with its 25% tariff announced Wednesday by Trump, may no longer benefit as much from efforts to pivot manufacturing out of China. While the Trump administration has sought to challenge China's manufacturing dominance, it is separately in extended trade talks with that country, which faces a 30% tariff and is charging a 10% retaliatory rate on the U.S. Major companies came into the week warning that tariffs would begin to squeeze them financially. Ford Motor Co. said it anticipated a net $2 billion hit to earnings this year from tariffs. French skincare company Yon-Ka is warning of job freezes, scaled-back investment and rising prices. Federal judges sounded skeptical Thursday about Trump's use of a 1977 law to declare the long-standing U.S. trade deficit a national emergency that justifies tariffs on almost every country. "You're asking for an unbounded authority," Judge Todd Hughes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit told a Justice Department lawyer representing the administration. The judges didn't immediately rule, and the case is expected to reach the Supreme Court eventually. The Trump White House has pointed to the increase in federal revenues as a sign that the tariffs will reduce the budget deficit, with $127 billion in customs and duties collected so far this year - about $70 billion more than last year. There are not yet signs that tariffs will lead to more domestic manufacturing jobs, and Friday's employment report showed the U.S. economy now has 37,000 fewer manufacturing jobs than it did in April. On Thursday, one crucial measure of inflation, known as the Personal Consumption Expenditures index, showed that prices have climbed 2.6% over the 12 months that ended in June, a sign that inflation may be accelerating as the tariffs flow through the economy. The prospect of higher inflation from the tariffs has caused the Federal Reserve to hold off on additional cuts to its benchmark rates, a point of frustration for Trump, who on Truth Social, called Fed Chair Jerome Powell a "TOTAL LOSER." But before Trump's tariffs, Powell seemed to suggest that the tariffs had put the U.S. economy and much of the world into a state of unknowns. "There are many uncertainties left to resolve," Powell told reporters Wednesday. "So, yes, we are learning more and more. It doesn't feel like we're very close to the end of that process. And that's not for us to judge, but it does - it feels like there's much more to come." (This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
