MW Steve Madden says Trump tariffs are 'destroying' the economy that brands like his created

By Nicole Lyn Pesce and Bill Peters

In a recent podcast, the founder of the Steve Madden shoe brand also criticized arguments that the U.S. has been losing jobs to China

Steve Madden has always known how to work a platform.

The founder and former chief executive of footwear brand Steve Madden $(SHOO)$ - whose boots, sneakers and sandals stacked with platform heels became a 1990s fashion staple - recently used an interview on "The Cutting Room Floor" podcast to criticize President Donald Trump's China tariffs for raising the price of shoes and "destroying" the U.S. economy.

'We are the ones that create commerce: the Apples, the Steve Maddens, the Uggs, the Ralph Laurens. We create the economy, and they're destroying it.'Steve Madden

In a clip drawing chatter on TikTok heading into the Memorial Day shopping weekend, podcast host Recho Omandi asked Madden what "the drama" is for him right now. His response: "The tariffs! Shoes are going up. You can thank your government for that."

Nike $(NKE)$, which makes half of its footwear in Vietnam and 18% in China, is also reportedly raising prices by as much as 7% according to various reports.

Madden added that Trump and the supporters of his tariff policy, which currently sees 30% tariffs on China's imports into the United States (temporarily decreased from 145%), "fundamentally do not understand what they're doing."

Check out the TikTok below - and be warned that Madden uses some strong language.

Madden noted that the tariffs, particularly those on products coming from China, are supposed to stop America from losing jobs to China - something that he acknowledged has indeed happened.

But he argued that having factory and manufacturing jobs move to China for products like his shoes or Apple's $(AAPL)$ iPhones has actually helped the U.S. economy by freeing Americans to take jobs outside of "making socks" in factories. Madden added that the Trump administration's aggressive border policy is "deporting the people" in America who, he claimed, would want to work in factories.

"The notion is, we've lost jobs to China. And we have - but we've picked up other jobs that we would not have had - better jobs, many better jobs, as a result of our relationship with China," Madden said. "Many more than we would have if they [Americans] were in a factory making socks."

Madden's namesake $1.79 billion shoe brand has relied heavily on China for products, sourcing 71% of its products from China last year. After Trump was re-elected in November, however, the company said it would start to move production to other countries.

Then earlier this month, Steve Madden withdrew its financial forecast for 2025 that it had offered in February, citing "macroeconomic uncertainty related to the impact of new tariffs on goods imported into the United States."

Edward Rosenfeld, Steve Madden's chief executive, said on the company's earnings call this month that negotiations with its suppliers had led to "meaningful discounts" on items coming from China into the U.S. He also said the company had sped up its efforts to rely less on China for production.

"On previous earnings calls, we disclosed that in 2024, we sourced 71% of our U.S. imports from China," he added. "For fall 2025, we expect the comparable figure, excluding Kurt Geiger, to be in the mid-teens and by spring 2026 down to the mid-single digits."

Steve Madden this month said it had completed the acquisition of Kurt Geiger, which makes shoes, handbags and other accessories.

When presented with Madden's interview remarks, White House spokesman Kush Desai defended the Trump administration's approach to trade.

"The Trump administration is deploying a multi-faceted approach of tariffs, rapid deregulation, domestic energy production and tax cuts to reshore critical manufacturing and restore American Greatness," he told MarketWatch over email. "Trillions in historic investment commitments and gross domestic investment spiking by 22% in Q1 2025 prove that this approach is paying off."

He added: "Steve Madden should stick to pontificating about pump-and-dump fraud schemes instead of international trade."

Madden served 21/2 years in prison after pleading guilty to securities fraud and money laundering in 2001 related to the Stratton Oakmont's "pump-and-dump" financial scandal featured in Martin Scorsese's movie "The Wolf of Wall Street." In his 2020 memoir "The Cobbler," Madden wrote that, "I screwed up, I paid my price, and I guess I had to go down that road to get to where I am now."

In the recent "Cutting Room Floor" podcast, Madden also suggested that some rich American investors potentially profiting off of tariffs are out of touch with how business owners and shoppers are feeling about the possible impacts of the trade war.

"I do understand on some level, because there's a lot of rich people that made money that didn't build anything, but they made money trading stocks and bonds and buildings," he said - adding that he was "not hating" those people.

"But they never made anything. They never created a business, they never had to chip a shoe out or punch a card," he continued. "They don't know what it's like, and that's the problem."

He closed that segment of the podcast claiming that companies like his own and Apple, or fashion-industry competitors like Ugg and Ralph Lauren, are the ones creating commerce and driving the economy.

"We create the economy, and they're destroying it," he said.

Several listeners supported Madden's arguments in the comments, writing sentiments like, "This is the best PR Steve Madden has ever done for his brand" and "Lemmem go to a Steve Madden store."

Representatives for Steve Madden were not immediately available for comment.

-Nicole Lyn Pesce -Bill Peters

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May 22, 2025 17:58 ET (21:58 GMT)

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