May 13: ... Rick Helfenbein, the president of the American Apparel & Footwear Association, called the measure a “self-inflicted wound” that he said would be “catastrophic.” While footwear and apparel were largely spared from Mr. Trump’s first two rounds of tariffs, they are on the list of items that would be taxed if the president follows through with his threat to raise taxes on an additional $300 billion worth of goods. (Source: New York Times)

May 13: ... “This is a self-inflicted wound that will be catastrophic for the nation’s economy,” Rick Helfenbein, chief executive officer of the American Apparel & Footwear Association, said in a statement. “By tightening the noose and pulling more consumer items into the trade war, the president has shown that he is not concerned with raising taxes on American families, or threatening millions of American jobs that are dependent on global value chains.” (Source: Bloomberg)

May 13: President and CEO of the American Apparel & Footwear Association Rick Helfenbein told CNN's Brooke Baldwin that he and others in the industry are "scared and panicked" over the escalating trade war between the US and China. (Source: CNN)

May 10: ... "Tariffs are taxes the Americans pay. They're taxes that American companies pay. Ultimately, they're taxes that consumers pay. And they're taxes that result in job losses in the United States," [according to Steve Lamar of the American Apparel & Footwear Association]. (Source: PBS NewsHour)

May 14: The countdown for bringing Chinese goods into the U.S. ahead of new import duties is now underway. But it’s unclear whether the sequel will match last year’s container crush due to high inventories and sourcing changes. ... tariffs will essentially cover any import now ready to be shipped from China as of May 10. Any goods already on the water and arriving on or before June 1 will not face those tariffs. (Source: Freight Waves)

May 10: Retailers anxiously watching Amazon.com Inc.’s one-day shipping push need to get a better handle on their inventory and true demand for super-speedy delivery before setting on a costly scramble to match the e-commerce giant, analysts and industry executives say. (Source: Wall Street Journal)

May 9: Industry groups are pressing New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to veto a bill to restrict toxins in children’s products, arguing that the "unworkable" measure is at odds with other states’ requirements and will not improve product safety. ... Nate Herman, senior vice president of supply chain at the American Apparel and Footwear Association, said his organisation has proposed changes to improve its cohesion with other laws. And although some of these have been adopted, Mr. Herman said AAFA "still feels that the bill requires several common sense additions to make it effective." (Source: Chemical Watch)

May 10: ... In the US, the onus of policing and protecting against infringements lies with the owners of the IP rights. IP rights owners find it extraordinarily difficult to invest and police against potential infringements by millions of online storefronts. While marketplace operators can quickly shut down infracting storefronts, it does not deter the same perpetrators from hoodwinking the operators by opening new storefronts. (Source: Forbes)

May 9: In news that doesn’t bode well for brands looking to protect their intellectual property, brand protection solution provider Red Points surveyed shoppers and found that more than 37 percent of respondents “who accidentally purchased a fake gift are still satisfied with their item(s)." (Source: WWD - login required)

May 2: ... These counterfeit fashion accounts, which are mostly focused on knocking off luxury fashion, are extremely active; they’ve cumulatively added more than 65 million posts to Instagram, and their activity averages about 1.6 million Instagram Stories a month. (Source: Vox)

Tariffs hit nearly ALL consumer goods imported from China: Last evening, the Trump administration proposed punitive tariffs on a list of approximately $300 billion in products (also known as Tranche 4), including pages of apparel, footwear, and related goods. This followed Friday's announcement that the punitive tariffs on $200 billion worth of imports would rise from 10% to 25%.

It is essential that the industry speak up now. Here are four ways to get involved:

1) Submit comments and testify on Tranche 4: Industries will have the opportunity to speak out through public comments and testimony. While AAFA plans to testify, we also encourage individual companies to get involved. Contact Steve Lamar and Nate Herman with questions.

2) Contact the Administration and Congress: AAFA has developed form letters to send to the Administration and your Members of Congress.

3) Share your story: AAFA has received numerous media requests asking to speak with members about the impact of tariffs. If your company would like to connect with the press, contact Alex Gibson.

4) Join AAFA's member-only webinar on May 20 for the latest updates.

For more on what AAFA has been expressing publicly, see yesterday’s press release (and others at aafaglobal.org/news) as well as our around-the-clock interviews with the media (e.g., Fox News, CNN, Yahoo Finance, PBS Newshour, Washington Post, New York Times) – a few clips below in addition to the Trade segment above.

Watch now.	Watch now.

Supporting domestic preferences with the Berry Amendment: Earlier this month, AAFA joined with nearly 20 organizations and unions to send a letter of support for the Berry Amendment to members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, urging restoration of key protections undermined in past years. The letter also opposes harmful recommendations made by the 809 Commission.

See all of AAFA’s latest letters, comments, and testimony here.