President-elect Donald Trump’s landslide victory over Vice President Harris is already sending shockwaves through the business world as executives have looked to move production out of China since last week, former Home Depot and Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli told FOX Business.
“I think he’s [Trump] going to be very positive about growth. He’s going to be very protective. He’s going to try to re-shore onshore stuff out of China,” he said Tuesday on “Mornings with Maria.”
“Big discussion yesterday about the supply issue, basically superseding the domestic demand issue in China, so a lot of the companies I’m talking to and CEOs are already looking at how they’re going to move out of China, either onshore, back to the U.S., or re-shore to another favorable country.”
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Most notably, popular shoe retailer Steve Madden announced plans to “rapidly” pull back China-based production by up to 45% just days after Trump’s win, as it’s looking to focus more of its operations in Brazil, Mexico, Vietnam and Cambodia.
Reuters quoted a company executive as saying, “Just under half of our current business would be potentially subject to tariffs on Chinese imports (if Trump decides to impose tariffs when he takes office in January).”
Tariffs, which have been frequently floated by the president-elect, have been speculated by some to be used as a “bargaining chip” in trade.
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Though Nardelli did not specify specific company executives who had been eyeing a way out of China, he shared the word from personal conversations he recently had.
While attending the Fortune Global Forum in New York City this week, he also got a feel for how the business world is reacting to Trump’s victory.
“The conversation there is very optimistic,” he said.
“There are still some naysayers, but if you look at the quick start of this new administration and President Trump, I think [it] bodes very well for business.”
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