Global Trade War: US tariff announced by President Trump and the consequences on sports
By Abdulgafar Oladimeji
The past weeks have been the most volatile for the global economy with sports economy not been an exception, since the industry is not incubated from the global economic value chain .
On April 2nd , 20025 US president Donald Trump , at the White House in an well televised event had announced a new tariff regime in what the US president described as Economic Independence on a day, he also tagged as the “Liberation Day.”
After the declaration, the situation within the anal of the global economic system in the layman comprehension has been epileptically in an galloping state.
The global sports market worth is presently at an estimate value of over 2 trillion US dollars across public, private and consumer investments .
The sports sector jealously parades the potentialities for further growth making it one of the largest and fasted growing economic sector in the world.
It is therefore imperative to take a critical look as the world sneezes over the new US tariff , sure the sports industry is also catching cold.
It is pertinent to note that, the writer is aware that President Donald Trump has announced a 90 days freeze on the new tariff policy, on some countries , it is still imperative to proceed with a critical analysis of the expected outcome of the new Trump led US policies on the global sports economy.
President Donald Trump would still be in office, when the United States would as a joint host nation play host to one of the largest sports fiesta and the most prestigious sports business event, which is the , FIFA world cup 2026.
The new US tariff no doubt would affect sports directly or indirectly courtesy of sports investments and sponsorship deals.
US investors have in the past two decades invaded the football business industry in various parts of the world with investments valued in billions of dollars, if the new tariff is implemented those investment that were secured through loans would put those investments at risk.
I mean here , that since the new US policy will strengthen the dollar, the worth of the loans in foreign countries would double in debt to become a huge fiscal burden on those sports investments .
These sports business with huge US investments will suffer severe implications and would not be able to comply with Profit and Sustainability Rules. PSR.
Major sponsors of the next edition of the FIFA world cup have invested heavily with the motive to sell their products in the US markets, take for example Hyundai, which is one of the major FIFA World cup partners , the new US tariff seek to impose 25 percent tariff on car produced in South Korea, Hyundai FIFA world cup sponsorship deal is on a cliff .
Major brand wear owners like, Adidas, Nike and Puma, are known to have their production bases in Asia ,where the tariff is predicted to result in skyrocket effects on prices and market prices that may cause diminished purchasing powers amongst sports consumers.
if the US should proceed with the new tariff a large chunk of the traditional customers, who patronize these sports wear makers will be subjected to heavy prices in turn may affect sales, since they may have to resort abstinence of adopt austerity measures. .
It is expected that the Liberation Day announcement by the US government would have its impact on the prices of building materials , thus leading to jerk up in prices in the cost of the construction of sports facilities not just in the US ,but across major global cities that have been given the rights to host major global sports events, not exempting the construction of sports faculties for use at the grass root levels, the heightened cost would then be transferred to sports clubs, associations , investors, sponsors and sports consumers.
The 2026 FIFA world cup would be jointly hosted by US, Canada and Mexico, the bad blood recently created by the new US tariff policy may affect the smooth hosting of the fiesta.
No doubt there is an ongoing global trade war between US and Canada and Mexico, this may invoke an hitch that may cripple the working relationship between these host nations, likely disarray looms and may constitute a glitch in the workings towards the successful staging of the most cherished sports economic event, the FIFA World Cup
The trade war may possibly ignite anti fans sentiments, recently during an NHL and NBA fixture, Canadian fans were alleged to have booed, during the US anthem, these may become a new worrisome trend in the sports world and it spells doom , if the world of sports begin to witness this snail speed emerging trends t, it would trigger hate and destroy the true spirit of sportsmanship.
Major world sports platform are the dominant sales anchor of household products, consumer goods, whose labor force are domicile in the eastern block countries, where the tariff is expected to bite massively.
Thanks the media is exempted from the tariff, if the opposite where to be the case, that would have been a death sentence on the sports market, knowing fully well that the media is the soul of the global sports economy.
Abdulgafar Oladimeji
Is a Kano based sports journalist .
