Footwear companies Nike and Adidas are publicly airing their grievances and having their say about President Trump's pending decision to slap tariffs on footwear made in China. The companies are calling the policy “catastrophic for our consumers, our companies and the American economy as a whole,” according to Bloomberg and a letter released publicly by the shoe industry’s trade association, the Footwear Distributors & Retailers of America, on Monday.

The two giants have been joined by 171 additional footwear companies in asking the President to hold off on raising tariffs further. The letter was also addressed to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and National Economic Council director Larry Kudlow. The industry estimates that the tariffs, if implemented, would add $7 billion in new costs per year that would need to be passed onto the consumer.

They wrote:

"On behalf of our hundreds of millions of footwear consumers and hundreds of thousands of employees, we ask that you immediately stop this action to increase their tax burden. Your proposal to add tariffs on all imports from China is asking the American consumer to foot the bill. It is time to bring this trade war to an end."

President Trump has recently threatened tariffs as high as 25% on Chinese goods. The U.S. Trade Representative’s office released a list of products that could see higher import duties, including footwear, last week. Trump is set to talk to Xi Jinping next month to discuss the issue further.

Michael Jeppesen, president of global operations for Wolverine World Wide Inc., which also signed the letter, said of the tariffs:

“We don’t make enough to absorb that. The only way it can is to be passed onto the consumer.”

Duties have always been higher for footwear makers due to longstanding tariffs that already sometimes exceed 30% for those in the industry. Nike makes 26% of its apparel and footwear in China while Sketchers produces about 65% of their products there. In Sketchers' case, not all of the products manufactured in China are imported to the United States. Under Armor gets about 18% of its products from China, down from 46% in 2013, and has goals of getting that number down to 7% by 2023.

The U.S. imported $11.4 billion in footwear from China last year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

This isn't the first time the industry has sounded off against proposed tariffs, either. In March of last year, more than 100 brands wrote to Trump to urge him to reconsider tariffs.

“Given the price sensitivity of our products, any additional increases in our costs would strike right at the heart of our ability to keep product competitively priced for our consumers,” the March letter read.

Here’s the full letter released on Monday: