CEO has ‘had enough’ of Trump’s big scheme to save the US economy

President Donald Trump’s tariffs are wrecking America’s economy, a conservative wrote on Sunday — and it is doing so in the way he said they would help. “Trump’s trade wars have jeopardized the jobs of the hundreds of Americans whom Weyco actually does employ, in those twenty-first-century jobs that the United States excels at creating,” The Bulwark’s Catherine Rampell wrote , referring to the footwear company that distributes Trump’s favorite Florsheim shoes. Last week Rampell interviewed the CEO of Florsheim, who broke down how his company has suffered due to Trump’s tariffs. After breaking down how tariffs on Weyco shoes “reached as high as 161 percent. Which adds up,” Rampell explained how Thomas Florsheim decided he had “had enough” when his company was hit by a surprise tariff bill of over $1 million last December, prompting his company to sue the Trump administration. Now that Trump has been ordered by the courts to reimburse companies that were forced to pay illegal tariffs, Rampell analyzed the fallout — which has been quite messy. “Most companies I’ve spoken with in recent weeks have indeed decided to claim what’s theirs,” Rampell wrote. “In part, they’re hoping for safety in numbers: More than 300,000 importers of record are eligible for refunds. Surely, they reason, Trump’s Customs and Border Protection agency can’t audit all of them.” She added, “Plus, for some firms, filing for a refund felt like something of a civic victory—the triumph of the rule of law over an imperialistic president who had been arbitrarily swiping money from companies and consumers.” As one midsized fashion brand CEO confidentially told Rampell, “I would like [the] rule of law to win the day. Capitalism exists by the permission and structure of democracy. But there’s a reason I’m not speaking out publicly. Like, my board of...