Big brands versus the retailers: who will absorb the impact of tariffs in their profit margins?

JD starts from the position of being the biggest on its side of the table; on the other hand, it is in a market where brands rule

- Nils Pratley

“There are no tariffs on webcasts,” joked Régis Schultz, chief executive of JD Sports, as he opened the retailer's strategy update to the City.

Unfortunately, that was the limit of his insights into the effects of Trumpian economic warfare on a business that likes to point out its 2,500 US stores make it bigger there than local icon Footlocker. The boast sounded better before the US threatened 40%-plus tariffs on such countries as Vietnam and Cambodia, the manufacturing source of many of its trainers and “athleisure” lines.