President Donald Trump’s widespread tariffs will likely cost Oregon sportswear giant Nike $1 billion, company officials said in their latest earnings call.

Nike manufactures nearly all of its athletic clothes and shoes in other countries. In April, Trump began levying import taxes on goods made in other countries. Companies like Nike have to pay the tariff to the American government when its products hit the port of entry.

“With the new tariff rates in place today, we estimate a gross incremental cost increase to Nike of approximately $1 billion,” Matthew Friend, chief financial officer at Nike, told investors during Thursday’s earnings call. “We intend to fully mitigate the impact of these headwinds over time.”

It’s unclear how long the Trump administration will keep the tariffs in place, but Nike’s plan includes spreading out the $1 billion cost over the next year.

The administration has backed off on some of its steepest proposed tariffs, but Trump still has in place a 10% import tax on goods coming from any foreign country. Some specific products, like steel, are taxed higher, as are goods manufactured in certain countries.

Trump’s highest tariffs are on China, one of Nike’s closest manufacturing partners.

“We’ve been operating in China for more than 40 years,” CEO Elliott Hill said on the earnings call. “We have deep relationships there.”

Overall, Nike executives say 16% of its footwear imported to the U.S. is made in China. To mitigate the cost of tariffs, the company plans to reduce that number to less than 10% by using factories in other countries subject to lower tariff rates.

The company also anticipates raising consumer prices, in part due to tariffs. In prepared remarks to investors, Friend said Nike will implement a “surgical price increase” in phases, starting this fall.

Nike is far from the only Oregon company dealing with uncertainty surrounding Trump’s tariffs. Industries ranging from agriculture to technology to construction rely on global trade.

In 2024, Oregon imported more than $28 billion worth of parts and goods from other countries, mainly from China, Taiwan, Canada and Japan. That’s according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Foreign Trade Division, accessed through wisertrade.org.

Nike traces its roots back to Eugene in the 1960s when co-founders Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman started out selling imported running shoes at regional track meets.

Since then, Nike has become one of the most recognizable brands in the world. However, in recent years, its online sales have gone down as it faced fierce competition from other running shoe brands. Last year, the company laid off more than 700 employees in Oregon and abruptly changed CEOs.

Amid the changes, the company has remained profitable. Nike reported $3.2 billion in profits last fiscal year, down from $5.7 billion the previous year.

“We’re executing our plans and trending in the right direction,” Hill said. “But a full recovery will take time.”

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/06/30/nike-executives-trump-tariffs-footwear-1-billion-taxes/