Trump’s tariffs are backfiring on US textile exporters — spiking costs, scaring foreign buyers. Wasn’t American manufacturing supposed to bounce back?

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.

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.”

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.

As the New York Times reports, the U.S. textile sector only employs a third of the 1.5 million Americans it once did.