Columbia Sportswear CEO: China is not the 'big bad market' that Trump makes it out to be
CGTN
1567142827000

The CEO of Columbia Sportswear, Tim Boyle, on Thursday said in an interview with CNBC that China is not the 'big bad market' that Trump makes it out to be.

"I don't see why the Chinese consumer needs to be focused on as a bad person or a bad entity. We've had great relationships with China," he said.

When talking about U.S. consumer data, the CEO expects it may not be as strong as others believe.

"I don't think we can expect that the U.S. consumer has the unlimited ability to continue to buy products at any price." 

6d7a82b7f74b4c8baa51d1c4e4938414.jpg

File photo: VCG

U.S. President Donald Trump said on August 1 that he will impose additional 10-percent tariffs on the remaining 300 billion U.S. dollars' worth of Chinese imports starting from September 1. 
Boyle issued a statement on August 2 in which he said his company "will be forced to raise prices" if the tariffs are imposed.  
"It will be a disaster for the American economy, employers and consumers. If tariffs are imposed, Columbia Sportswear Company – along with many other manufacturers in our industry – will be forced to raise prices on our products. This is a massive tax on employers and consumers, not on China," he said in the statement. 

Responding to the U.S. new tariff decision, China's Ministry of Commerce said it was a serious violation of the consensus reached between the heads of state of the two countries in Osaka and is not conducive to solving the problem. 

Last Friday, China decided to impose an additional tariff of either 10 percent or 5 percent on 5,078 items of U.S. products worth about 75 billion U.S. dollars, in response to the U.S. announcement earlier this month to impose additional tariffs on Chinese imports.