Donald Trump repeatedly attacked Asia, particularly China, for stealing American manufacturing jobs as he campaigned for president.
But just like his own clothing line, his daughter Ivanka has licensed her name to a run of apparel worth $100 million that is assembled by foreign workers, not Americans. The Ivanka Trump line is put together by G-III Apparel Group Inc., who is a leading force in taking clothing manufacturing jobs out of America and on to the global market.
Manufacturing jobs in the United States hit their peak in 1979. Since then, the drop in international labor costs has seen these jobs move abroad. Specifically, in 2000, 50% of the garment industry made their goods in the Americas. That figure is now 20%, and only 2% of that is in the United States.
Ivanka Trump’s IT Apparel II clothing is made mostly in China and Vietnam, where the labor is cheapest and the profits are passed along in part to Trump’s daughter.
In a campaign speech in Greensboro, NC, Trump slammed companies that made the same kind of arrangements as those that now benefit his daughter: “They get the jobs, they get the factories, they get the cash, and all we get — we get illegal immigration and we get drugs.”
At the same time, protesters have come out in force against Ivanka Trump’s clothing lines, arguing that continuing to support her with apparel sales also provides an endorsement and cover for her father’s racist and Islamophobic statements and policies he invoked during the campaign.
One of the first political bloggers in the world, Oliver Willis has operated OliverWillis.com since 2000. Contributor at Media Matters for America and The American Independent. Follow on Twitter at @owillis. Full bio.