New Balance is being vilified on social media by folks upset with the athletic apparel company CEO’s declaring the election of Donald Trump a step in the “right direction.”
Angry individuals have lambasted the company on its Facebook page and on Twitter, some going as far as posting video of themselves burning pairs of New Balance shoes in protest, Bloomberg News reported.
The Boston-based company cited its concerns about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) which the president-elect denounced throughout the campaign and which Democratic rival Hillary Clinton similarly criticized after having long been on the record favoring it.
“As the only major company that still makes athletic shoes in the U.S., New Balance has a unique perspective on trade in that we want to make more shoes in the U.S., not less,” the company said Thursday in a statement, Bloomberg reported.
New Balance, a longtime opponent of free-trade agreements, has championed tariffs with stricter penalties for importing footwear. The company manufactures or assembles more than 4 million pairs of athletic shoes annually in Massachusetts and Maine, Bloomberg reported.
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