Aug 12, 2025
In January, President Donald Trump declared “tariffs” to be “the most beautiful word,” adding that his sweeping tariff plan would “bring our country's businesses back.”
But Jeff Bowman, CEO of Colorado-based Cocona Labs, doesn’t see that happening in his own industry — textiles — or manufacturing in the U.S. more generally.
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Like Trump, he attended the Wharton School of Business, but told Bloomberg he suspects the president skipped the tariff class.
“The empirical history shows that when you impose tariffs, the net effect is that you reduce the amount of business that takes place,” he said. “And we’re seeing that happen already. Costs go up, consumers pay the price eventually.”
Bowman is already experiencing it.
Textiles in turmoil
Cocona Labs produces a compound used in sustainable thermoregulation fabrics, but doesn’t manufacture the fabrics themselves.
Instead, the company ships batches of the compound to manufacturers around the world that produce the finished fabrics and products — from high-performance sports apparel to bedding. In turn, those countries export the textiles and fabrics back to the U.S. or sell them to their own domestic consumers.
The problem is, the manufacturers are all in countries like China that Trump has hit with tariffs. In turn, those countries have imposed reciprocal tariffs on U.S. products — like Cocona Labs’ compound.
Trump’s tariffs and other countries’ counter-tariffs are eating into Bowman’s bottom line — making it tougher to keep costs down.
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In July, his company shipped a batch of the compound to China and absorbed 10% of the 16.5% tariff imposed on the product by China.
“That’s not sustainable for us,” he said. “Long term, we’d have to raise our prices. When we raise our prices, it will ultimately affect the amount of volume that’s being sold. So it’s not good.”
Research suggests it’s not good for consumers in the U.S. or abroad, raising prices for everyone and reducing sales.
A 2024 Federal Reserve Board study found that the tariffs Trump imposed on other countries in his first term led to retaliatory taxes on U.S exports, “hitting demand for the goods in many cases.”
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No bounceback yet
Meanwhile, Trump’s promised domestic manufacturing boom has yet to materialize. Certainly it hasn’t boomed in Bowman’s line of work.
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As the New York Times reports, the U.S. textile sector only employs a third of the 1.5 million Americans it once did.
More generally, the manufacturing sector has actually shrunk in Trump’s second term.
The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) reports that U.S. manufacturing “contracted in July for the fifth consecutive month,” along with employment in the industry, down for the sixth straight month.
The Wall Street Journal notes while some companies are investing in U.S-based production — like Apple, which has committed $600 billion over the next four years — most companies won’t make a capital commitment to set up a factory in the U.S. amid an ever-changing tariff landscape.
With only 8% of the American workforce employed in manufacturing, economist and Harvard professor Robert Lawrence told CNN that the the sector will not be returning to the glory days of the late 1970s.
“These industrial and trade policies look like they were designed by an 80-year-old man who has nostalgia for the past when manufacturing was a real driver of employment opportunities,” he said of Trump’s tariffs.
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Mike Crisolago is a Sr. Staff Reporter at Moneywise with nearly 20 years of experience working as a journalist, editor, content strategist and podcast host. He specializes in personal finance writing related to the 50-plus demographic and retirement, as well as politics and lifestyle content.
