Tadashi Yanai, chief executive officer of Fast Retailing Co., the parent company of Uniqlo, has warned that US President Donald Trump’s tariffs could lead to the United States becoming isolated from the global community, according to Bloomberg.
Speaking at a briefing in Tokyo on Thursday, Yanai criticized the protectionist measures.
“Tariffs that prioritize only one’s own country are unacceptable,” he stated. “Doing such things could end up being detrimental to the country itself.”
Yanai predicted that the tariffs would not persist in their current form, as businesses would find strategies to relocate production and minimize their impact. He pointed to the trend of Chinese suppliers expanding into countries like Vietnam, Indonesia, and Bangladesh, with future expansion likely into India and Africa. This, he argued, demonstrates the borderless nature of the global economy and the ultimate ineffectiveness of tariffs.
Yanai’s comments follow Trump’s recent increase in duties on imports from China and a temporary pause on levies for other trade partners. These actions have contributed to volatility in global markets as the US seeks to reshape international trade.
Takeshi Okazaki, Chief Financial Officer of Fast Retailing, addressed the potential impact of the new US tariffs on the company’s operating profit. In a post-earnings briefing in Tokyo Thursday, Okazaki estimated that the tariffs, if unchanged from the levels announced last week, would reduce operating profit by approximately 2% to 3% for the second half of the year. He cautioned that this outlook could be revised if the situation changes.
Okazaki noted that the impact is expected to be limited in the short term, as a “considerable volume” of products had already been imported into the US for the latter half of the fiscal year.
The latest news in your social feeds
Subscribe to our social media platforms to stay tuned