With President-elect Donald Trump winning the 2016 US elections, it looks like people have been burning their New Balance shoes. New Balance has been facing a backlash from social media because of its support with Trump's stand in terms of trade.
New Balance, the Boston owned company, found itself in a tight situation after declaring that Trump's victory over Hillary Clinton is a move which is going in the right direction, since they agree with him on abolishing the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. That statement was the sparkplug which ignited the backlash from consumers according to Bloomberg.
In a report by Business Insider, Sara Germano from "The Wall Street Journal" took to twitter a quote from New Balance vice president Matt LeBretton, saying "The Obama admin turned a deaf ear to us & frankly w/ Pres-Elect Trump we feel things are going to move in the right direction."
Now, people are reportedly taking videos of burning their shoes coming from New Balance and uploading it on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. Sources also say that consumers will boycott other products coming from the company.
According to The Wall Street Journal, New Balance owns and operates five factories and domestically manufactures its products. With the Trans Pacific Agreement, their sales are being jeopardized compared to other company rivals.
This is the reason why the company agrees with Trump's vision on trade. New Balance plans on making more shoes within the United States and plans on outsourcing less. But it seems that a lot of consumers don't agree with the that, thus the burning of shoes.
Nike, on the other hand, supports the Trans-Pacific agreement which was a policy from the previous administration. The agreement benefits Nike greatly as it heavily relies on overseas production. But with a new administration about to set place, the company would greatly be affected.
Now, a lot of experts say that such tariffs impositions would greatly affect the US economy. It could cause other countries to boycott US products as well.
