THE chief executive of Brooks Running, part of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., said his company will shed much of its presence in China by moving running shoe production to Vietnam, a result of the trade dispute between China and the United States.

Jim Weber, who has run Brooks since 2001, said in an interview Friday that Brooks made the decision in January, when U.S. President Donald Trump was threatening to boost tariffs on the shoes to 45 percent from 20 percent.

Weber said the tariff threat weighed “massively” because Brooks cannot simply raise prices on its shoes, which typically retail for US$100 to US$160 a pair, and though trade tensions have cooled, the company could not wait for a resolution.

“We’re going to pull most of our production out of China,” he said. “We’ve had to make a long-term decision on this picture. It’s disruptive, but the reality. So we’ll be predominantly in Vietnam by the end of the year.”

About 8,000 jobs will also move to Vietnam from China, Weber added.

Brooks plans to continue research and development, as well as small production runs of shoes, in China.(SD-Agencies)