
US President Donald Trump's controversial new tariff policy is set to impact football fans when buying replica shirts.
On Wednesday - a date he dubbed 'Liberation Day' - Trump announced a series of reciprocal tariffs to be placed on countries across the world.
The reason behind the drastic move, the White House claims, is to 'strengthen the international economic position of the United States and protect American workers' - though there have been concerns over whether this will end up being the case.
Advert
There have also been question marks about tariff calculations, with BBC reporting that US stocks have dropped by the biggest amount since 2020 following Trump's announcement.
The exact impact on manufacturers and consumers will likely not be fully known for some time, but for sports fans, there is already an indication.
Most official shirts are at least in part manufactured in Asia, where Trump has implemented huge tariffs.
Advert
Bangladesh, for instance, is a major exporter of football shirts, but has had a 37 per cent reciprocal tariff placed on the country by Trump.
China (34 per cent), Pakistan (29 per cent) and India (26 per cent) have also been hit hard, while Vietnam has had a 46 per cent tariff placed upon it.
The numbers are largely based on what Trump and the White House claim that other countries impose on the US as tariffs, with the States in turn imposing half of that number in most cases. It is those calculations that have been questioned by some analysts.
Speaking to BBC, football finance expert Kieran Maguire has revealed how much the tariffs will affect football fans - and it is not as high an amount as you might think.
Advert
He explained: "For a $100 (£76.36) replica sports jersey sold in the US, manufacturing costs are likely to be in the region of $12-15 at source, and maybe even lower.
"So even if there's a 40 per cent tariff when the goods are imported to the US, that'll only be around $4 more.
"Consumers are used to paying premium prices in sports retail. The manufacturer and retailer should absorb some of this, and it shouldn't impact on the amount being sold."
In recent years, more fans have turned away from buying replica shirts from official sources due to the rising purchase costs, instead choosing to purchase counterfeit shirts.
Advert
In March, The Athletic surveyed 300 Premier League fans and found that 52 per cent had knowingly bought a fake football shirt.
And the BBC found that the price of last summer's Euro 2024 England adult shirt, which was available for £85, had risen by 18.6 per cent combined with inflation compared to the 2002 World Cup shirt, which cost £40.
Topics: Donald Trump, United States, Kit, Football