Tariff Hits US Cowboy Boots

BOOMERANG: MOST RENOWNED MAKERS SOURCE OSTRICH LEATHER EXCLUSIVELY FROM KAROO

- Clément Varanges

The manufacture of iconic "made in the USA" cowboy boots is set to suffer from President Donald Trump's 30% tariffs on South African exports due to come into force today.

Texas's most renowned makers of the southern US fashion staple source the ostrich leather they require exclusively from the small town of Oudtshoorn, 400km east of Cape Town.

Known as the world's "ostrich capital," Oudtshoorn is nestled in the semi-arid Little Karoo valley just inland from the southern coast and is home to a few hundred thousand people and about as many of the giant flightless birds.

"We just don't know how bad the impact will be, but positive it won't be," said ostrich farmer Laubscher Coetzee of the tariffs expected to kick in today after South Africa appeared unable to negotiate a new trade deal with Trump.

More than half of the global supply of ostrich-derived products—from feathers to leather and meat—comes from nearly 200 farmers around Oudtshoorn who are joined in the Cape Karoo International (CKI) group, said its managing director Francois de Wet.

South Africa as a whole supplies about 70% of the world's production, he said.