The newest edition of the Leatherbiz Market Intelligence newsletter went live on November 19, exploring the extent to which the changing political situation may have an impact on the leather industry. By Leatherbiz.

Clearly, it will be some time before we have clarity around tariffs, trade disputes and other potential areas of contention, but, as our report points out, businesses have to do their best to plan ahead.

It accepts that the leather industry in its own right is unlikely to be at the centre of discussions “in the big world of business”, but for two of its most important customer segments, automotive and luxury goods, it looks as though important changes are possible.

If there really is a push towards encouraging US companies to make more finished products on home soil and steering consumers in the largest economy in the world to invest in domestically produced goods, will enough leather be available to meet the demand?

And if major trading partners such as China and the European Union mirror these market manoeuvres, will enough leather or the raw material to make it be available there?

These are the questions Market Intelligence poses. As part of its answer to its own enquiries, it says that most politicians, especially in Europe, probably “do not care that one of our traditional materials is becoming more and more difficult to produce successfully in Europe”.

However, it suggests that if they were to analyse carefully “the total cost, from slaughterhouse door to finished product”, they may “come to quite surprising conclusions”.