Nike stock: Trump’s biggest trade-war casualty so far

Nike (NKE) shares tanked Thursday after President Trump unveiled a sweeping new list of “reciprocal tariffs” — with the sportswear giant’s biggest suppliers squarely in the crosshairs.

After the press conference, NKE stock plunged as much as 15%, wiping out more than $10 billion in market value.

Nike is now down over 42% from its 52-week high, with most of the losses coming in just the past month.

While the broader market also took a hit — the S&P 500 dropped more than 4% — Nike was singled out by Trump’s shock “Liberation Day” tariff announcement.

The list includes a steep 46% tariff on imports from Vietnam, where Nike relies on more than 450,000 workers across 130 factories. Vietnam accounts for roughly 44% of Nike’s total product sourcing, according to Stifel analyst Jim Duffy.

And the bad news doesn’t stop there.

The White House also slapped a 34% tariff on goods from China, another major Nike partner, supplying 11% of its products.

If the new tariffs hold, Nike may be forced to raise prices and overhaul its supply chain beyond Asia, Duffy said. In the near term, he estimates the policy could cut $1.69 per share from Nike’s earnings.

No time to react

The tariff bombshell caught Nike and other apparel brands completely off guard.

For years, companies in the space have followed Washington’s lead by shifting supply chains away from China to friendlier countries like Vietnam, Cambodia, Bangladesh, and Indonesia.

Now, those same countries face tariffs ranging from 32% to 49%.

“Companies that worked hard over the years to reduce reliance on China by leaning into countries like Vietnam just learned there really isn't a place to hide,” said Simeon Siegel, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets.

Nike has more pricing power than most, but that only goes so far. “They can’t price gauge their way out of this,” said Bernstein analyst Aneesha Sherman.

For now, the strategy is damage control — renegotiating vendor and supplier contracts to “share the pain up and down the value chain,” she added.

Nike had already warned shareholders to expect a tough quarter due to tariffs. Its CFO previously guided for a 400 to 500 basis point hit to Q4 profit margins. But those estimates were based on China and Mexico — not Vietnam.

Nike reports earnings on June 25.