Does Trump Know His Favorite Shoe Company Is Suing Him?

Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

There’s definitely something a bit cultish about the president pushing his favorite dress shoes on all of his male friends and advisers. But the Wall Street Journal’s story on the president’s obsession with Florsheim shoes, which ran on Monday, initially seemed mild and unusually apolitical for a Trump story. The leather oxfords are American made and surprisingly affordable, retailing for around $145. The Journal noted that “presidential presents” have been common since the late 1880s, and Trump is paying for the shoes, which he’s handed out to J.D. Vance, Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth, Howard Lutnick, Sean Hannity, and Lindsey Graham, among many others.

The Journal reported that Trump is keeping a close eye on whether Florsheim recipients are actually wearing them:

Trump has been gifting footwear to agency heads, lawmakers, White House advisers and VIPs. “Did you get the shoes?” he asks at cabinet meetings. Some people have laced up in the Oval Office. During a lunch meeting in January, Trump suddenly pivoted to his “incredible” new shoes and gave Tucker Carlson a pair of brown wingtips.

“All the boys have them,” said a female White House official. Another joked, “It’s hysterical because everybody’s afraid not to wear them.” The shoe-salesman-in-chief is paying attention.

However, the president (and the Journal piece) missed some pertinent facts about his beloved oxfords. Specifically, that Florsheim parent company Weyco Group is suing the Trump administration over tariffs. Business Insider reported on Monday:

Weyco Group, which owns footwear brands including Bogs and Nunn Bush, sued the federal government in December over tariffs, according to a complaint filed in the US Court of International Trade.

The shoe maker filed the lawsuit, betting that the US Supreme Court could strike down the tariffs that Trump has enacted under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

The Journal did reach out to Thomas Florsheim Jr., the CEO of Weyco Group, but he didn’t want to comment on the president’s shoe preferences, and there’s no mention of the tariffs suit:

Reached by phone, Thomas Florsheim Jr. said he was unaware of the president’s shoe orders. The Weyco Group CEO and fifth-generation Florsheim politely declined to comment further. 

This is odd, since the CEO has said plenty about the harmful effects of Trump’s tariffs over the past year. In March 2025, Milwaukee Business Journal reported that Weyco was rushing “1 million shoes to U.S. ahead of China tariff hike.” A week after “Liberation Day” on April 2, the Associated Press quoted Florsheim’s warning that doubling the tariffs on leather imports from Asia “means a significant cost increase that will impact consumers.” Last summer, Florsheim told several outlets that the company had been forced to raise prices by about 10 percent because “[t]he tariff escalations have created disruption and uncertainty in the shoe industry like we have never seen before.”

In December, Weyco filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, asking the U.S. Court of International Trade to “declare the president’s unprecedented power grab illegal.” The company also requested a refund, with interest, of the $16 million it paid in tariffs last year, if the policy were struck down. Last month, when the U.S. Supreme Court did just that, Florsheim co-authored a piece for The Contrarian titled “Business Leaders Welcome SCOTUS Tariffs Decision.” Two weeks ago, Florsheim talked about how Trump’s tariffs had hurt his business in an on-air interview with Spectrum News:

“The idea behind the tariffs originally was pro-business, and it feels like somehow the pro-business part of this has gotten lost,” said Weyco Group CEO Tom Florsheim.

Weyco Group, known for its Florsheim Shoe brand, imports shoes that are made overseas. Florsheim said his company has spent millions on tariffs over the past year. He said at one point they were having to pay a 145% tariff on shoes made in China.

“You’re paying more for the tariff than you were for the shoes,” Florsheim noted.

As a result, the company shifted manufacturing to India, only to face new tariffs there as well.

“From a business planning standpoint, it’s been almost impossible,” Florsheim said.

Maybe Trump loves his Florsheims so much that he’ll just pretend the company hasn’t been vocally fighting his beloved tariffs. (“Florsheim’s suing my administration? I didn’t know that. You’re telling me now for the first time.”) But Rubio, Vance & Co. should probably prepare themselves to lace up the only shoe Trump can really trust.

Photo: Getty Images