US-China Tariff Truce Leaves Fashion and Footwear Out in the Cold

A Narrow Truce in a Long Tariff War

After talks in Washington, D.C. between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump on 25 September, both governments published reciprocal lists of non-sensitive products that will benefit from lower tariffs. Each list covers goods worth roughly 30 billion dollars, with agricultural commodities, hair and personal care products, and medical equipment among the headline categories.

The move marks a step back from the steep escalation of the past year, when the Trump administration imposed tariffs on Chinese goods reaching as high as 145 per cent, and China answered with a 125 per cent levy on American products. The new arrangement is designed to steady trade cooperation between the world’s two largest economies, but it stops well short of a broad liberalisation.

What the Lists Actually Cover

The relief is tightly drawn. On the US side, the exclusions reach selected household textiles — bedding, curtains and table linen among them — yet they deliberately bypass apparel and footwear. Both sectors are classed as import-sensitive, reflecting their exposure to foreign competition, low-cost labour markets and dumping practices.

That omission is not accidental. Washington has long treated clothing and shoes as strategically protected categories, and the latest agreement does nothing to disturb that stance.

Household Textiles In, Clothing and Shoes Out

The distinction matters for buyers and brands alike. Home furnishing lines may see some cost relief on specific woven and made-up textile goods, while the garments and shoes that fill most retail floors remain subject to the existing duty regime.

For importers, the practical effect is a two-speed market: a modest easing on a narrow band of goods, and business as usual — meaning elevated landed costs — across the bulk of fashion inventory.

Footwear Industry Voices Frustration

The exclusion of shoes drew an immediate response from the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America (FDRA), which said it was disappointed that footwear had been left out of this round of items considered for exclusions.

The organisation’s president, Matt Priest, framed the issue in terms of household budgets rather than luxury consumption, arguing that shoes are an everyday necessity for working families, children and consumers nationwide, and that continued tariffs on footwear add to the cost pressures Americans are already absorbing. He said the FDRA would keep pressing for meaningful footwear tariff relief and continue working with the Administration on policies intended to lower costs, strengthen the industry and give businesses more certainty.

Sourcing Has Already Shifted

The tariff standoff has reshaped supply chains well beyond any single agreement. US companies have spent recent years moving manufacturing and material sourcing into different countries as geopolitical trade tensions have persisted.

The consequences show up clearly in the data. In 2025, China’s share of US footwear imports dropped to its lowest volume since 1992, according to the FDRA — a striking retreat for a country that was once the default production base for American shoe brands.

A Slow Recovery, Not a Reset

Even with sensitive strategic goods left outside the deal, some analysts expect US-China trade to continue recovering through the remainder of the year.

Prashant Bhayani, chief investment officer for Asia at BNP Paribas Wealth Management, put the scale of the relationship in perspective: US exports to China stood at roughly 68 billion dollars over the first seven months of 2026, while Chinese exports to the US reached around 270 billion dollars in the first eight months.

That gap explains why both capitals are willing to bank a limited truce. It also explains why categories such as clothing and footwear stay fenced off: they sit at the intersection of consumer price sensitivity, domestic political pressure and industrial policy.

What It Means for Fashion and Retail

For the fashion sector, the takeaway is straightforward. The reciprocal tariff cuts deliver no relief on apparel or footwear, so the cost base for the majority of imported garments and shoes is unchanged. Brands that have already diversified production across Southeast Asia, South Asia and the Americas are likely to continue that strategy rather than reverse it on the strength of a partial deal.

Retailers sourcing home textiles may be able to negotiate slightly better terms on qualifying lines, but the broader picture is one of continuity. Duty rates on the categories most exposed to consumer demand remain where they were, and industry bodies such as the FDRA are signalling that their lobbying effort is far from finished.

The agreement therefore reads less like a turning point for global fashion trade and more like a carefully bounded gesture — useful for agricultural exporters, medical suppliers and personal care brands, but cold comfort for anyone whose margins depend on moving knitwear, denim or trainers across the Pacific.