- SharkNinja CEO Mark Barrocas said the vacuum cleaner and blender manufacturing company has moved production away from China in response to President Donald Trump’s tariffs, but it likely won’t develop an American supply chain. Trump has implemented a 10% levy on China and will likely announce reciprocal tariffs Thursday.
Early reactions to President Donald Trump’s tariffs indicate they may not have the intended impact of invigorating U.S. manufacturing.
SharkNinja CEO Mark Barrocas believes that at least for his company, it’s not possible to conveniently develop a U.S.-based supply chain, even as the maker of Ninja Creami and Shark Navigator vacuum hastens its shift away from production in China.
“Our industry doesn’t exist in the U.S.,” Barrocas told Bloomberg News on Thursday. “The product is not made here. The components are not made here. This is not like the car industry that you could say, ‘Well, let’s flex it back to the United States.’ That is not something that we believe is on the horizon.”
Trump has already implemented a 10% tariff on China and ordered an additional 25% tax on steel and aluminum imports, but has delayed steep levies on Mexico and Canada. On the campaign trail last year, Trump argued tariffs would be a means to incentivize American manufacturing. He also suggested in his Feb. 1 executive order that China has not done enough to stymie the flow of fentanyl into the U.S.
The White House did not respond to Fortune’s requests for comment.
SharkNinja reported earnings to investors on Thursday that exceeded Wall Street expectations, posting $1.8 billion in fourth-quarter revenue, a 29.7% year-over-year increase. Even when considering the impact of Chinese tariffs, the company expects sales to grow as much as 12% in 2025.
Navigating the supply-chain switch
SharkNinja has been tapering off its reliance on China since Trump’s 2018 trade war during his first term, Barrocas said. Its goal is to source nearly all of its materials for U.S. products from countries outside China by the end of the year. SharkNinja plans to have 90% of production for goods sold in America made elsewhere by the second quarter of 2025. The company has since been sourcing much of its materials from Vietnam and Thailand and stockpiling other key items.
"We don’t believe the U.S. right now is a viable supply location,” he said.
Barrocas said there could be some instances in which SharkNinja would be able to develop a supply chain in the U.S., such as for coolers, which require fewer parts and assembly steps than most of their appliance counterparts.
"While the manufacturing infrastructure for many of the products we produce is not currently available in the U.S., we are looking for ways to manufacture in the U.S. and continue to evaluate what is possible," SharkNinja told Fortune in a statement.
The company may not be immune to tariffs, even with its contingencies. Trump said he will announce reciprocal tariffs Thursday, which would theoretically result in taxes on imported goods equivalent to the taxes those countries have implemented for U.S. exports. Southeast Asian countries in particular have benefitted from the “reshoring” of supply chains from China because of past tariffs, and could become a target for a next wave of taxes.
Executives have largely had a negative reaction to Trump’s tariffs, fearing disruptions in supply chains and increases in production costs that will be passed down to consumers. From September to November last year, about 200 companies in the S&P 500 mentioned tariffs in earnings calls or investor conferences. Like SharkNinja, Lowe’s and e.l.f. have already begun strategizing on how to mitigate the impact of tariffs, including moving production away from China.
Though some companies have already taken steps to mitigate the impact of tariffs on its production, the pace at which Trump is implementing these taxes give American companies little time to make necessary changes, Barrocas argued.
“The current administration seems like they are very willing to make a tariff decision and start the tariff decision that day,” he said.
