By Maria Martinez and Helen Reid<\/p>\n
BERLIN (Reuters) – In the Barbie movie, the iconic doll faces a pivotal decision: opt for her trademark but impractical sky-high stilettos or embrace the down-to-earth comfort of the quintessentially German Birkenstock sandal?<\/p>\n
Now, however, Barbie may have another consideration: price.<\/p>\n
U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs are poised to inflate the prices U.S. shoppers pay for many German products – from Birkenstock sandals to Paulaner beer and Riesling wine.<\/p>\n
Trump’s tariff offensive is testing relations between the two allies, threatening their two-way trade and risking major damage to an already limping German economy.<\/p>\n
And for German companies, it will test whether U.S. consumers – long willing to pay more for the renowned quality of the country’s goods – can stomach even higher prices at a time when U.S. policies threaten to spark a recession.<\/p>\n
“Both European producers and U.S. consumers will suffer,” said Rodger Wegner, president of the Association of Exporting Breweries, which represents German beer brands including Karlsberg, Lowenbrau and Radeberger.<\/p>\n
Germany, like most of the world, is now subject to a 10% tariff on its exports to the United States. But a 20% rate is still looming despite a 90-day pause.<\/p>\n
The duties could not come at a worse time for Europe’s biggest economy, with economists predicting the trade turmoil could put it on track for a third year of recession for the first time in its history.<\/p>\n
The U.S. was Germany’s biggest trading partner in 2024 with two-way goods trade totalling 253 billion euros ($277.84 billion).<\/p>\n
‘A BITTER PILL’<\/p>\n
Birkenstock, like many other companies, may pass the cost onto consumers through price hikes, though it declined to say whether it planned to when asked by Reuters.<\/p>\n
However, even with higher prices, the brand could still have an advantage as consumers prioritise spending on comfort and quality, said Jessica Ramirez, co-founder of the retail consultancy The Consumer Collective.<\/p>\n
A weekly survey by industry association Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America found shoe sales since Trump’s inauguration were down 9.5% from the same period last year.<\/p>\n
Birkenstock, however, said it has not seen any noticeable change in demand. It produces 95% of its shoes at its own factories in Germany and said its vertical integration makes it less exposed to tariffs than peers.<\/p>\n
The company said it was pushing ahead with expansion in the U.S. – a crucial market – despite the current turmoil, with plans to open up to five more of its own new stores there by the end of September, for a total of 15.<\/p>\n
Story continues <\/p>\n
“We’re not going to alter our highly targeted retail expansion plans due to short-term disruptions,” a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
Whether that strategy pays off will likely come down to consumers like Clay White.<\/p>\n
The software engineer from North Carolina bought his first Birkenstocks in 2011 and is now on his third pair, but a severe price spike would make him think twice about buying another.<\/p>\n
“If they’re going to be … say over $200, then I would probably try and find a used pair,” White told Reuters. “Or maybe I would purchase them in Europe.”<\/p>\n
Birkenstock’s bestselling Arizona leather sandals retail for between $130 and $350.<\/p>\n
German brewers are in a similar dilemma. The U.S. is the third-biggest market for German beer outside the EU.<\/p>\n
But production costs have risen sharply in recent years, the Association of Exporting Breweries’ Wegner said, and U.S. beer drinkers would inevitably have to shoulder the tariff burden.<\/p>\n
The U.S. is also the biggest export market for German wines, with the sector earning around 63 million euros there, about a sixth of total export sales, data from the German Wine Association showed.<\/p>\n
For Dr. Loosen, a winery in the Mosel region known for Riesling, which exports a third of its production to the U.S., the financial implications of Trump’s tariffs appear unavoidable.<\/p>\n
“It will be a bitter pill to swallow,” said Thomas Loosen, the company’s co-manager.<\/p>\n
($1 = 0.9106 euros)<\/p>\n
(Reporting by Maria Martinez; Additional reporting by Helen Reid, Rene Wagner, Frank Simon and Timm Reichert; Editing by Josephine Mason and Joe Bavier)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Maria Martinez and Helen Reid BERLIN (Reuters) – In the Barbie movie, the iconic doll faces a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14472,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5310],"tags":[2000,299,10028,10026,1824,10030,6202,10027,10029],"class_list":{"0":"post-14471","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-germany","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-german-beer","11":"tag-german-companies","12":"tag-germany","13":"tag-maria-martinez","14":"tag-president-donald-trump","15":"tag-riesling-wine","16":"tag-rodger-wegner"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114326510456502577","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}