Macy’s severs ties with Donald Trump

By

Obi Anyanwu

Published
Jul 1, 2015

Following the public’s insistence, Macy’s will end its business relationship with Donald Trump. The retailer was put in the hot seat after a petition on MoveOn.org that has been circulating since 2012 urged them to drop Donald Trump. The petition reached its goal of 725,000 signatures on Tuesday.

A Macy’s spokesperson said in a statement, “In light of statements made by Donald Trump, which are inconsistent with Macy’s values, we have decided to discontinue our business relationship with Mr. Trump and will phase-out the Trump menswear collection, which has been sold at Macy’s since 2004.”

Trump was in hot water following remarks he made about Mexico and its citizens in his presidential candidacy announcement in June. NBC was the first to pull away from the mogul by announcing it would no longer air the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants and will remove Trump as host of The Apprentice. Televisa in Mexico also announced it will not air the Miss Universe pageant, Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim axed a project with Trump slated for his Ora TV Station, and Farouk Systems Inc. said they will no longer sponsor the pageants or Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice show.
 
Macy’s joins NBC and Univision as the latest to sever ties with Trump citing its growing Latin customer base as reason. 16 percent of Macy’s store traffic is Latino and executives expect the number to grow to 20 percent in a few years.

Trump released a statement as well claiming it was his choice to sever ties.
 
“I have decided to terminate my relationship with Macy’s because of the pressure being put on them by outside sources,” said Trump. While selling Trump ties and shirts at Macy’s is a small business in terms of dollar volume, my principles are far more important and therefore much more valuable. I have never been happy about the fact that the ties and shirts are made in China, and should I start a new product line somewhere in the future, I would insist that they are made in America.”
 
Trump took a political stance as he continued, saying, “Securing our border, negotiating trade deals that benefit the United States and bringing jobs back to America is my top priority. I have always said that if you are successful, it is very hard to run for office, especially the office of President.

I have also continually stated that I am not beholden to anyone and this includes NBC and Macy’s. Clearly, NBC and Macy’s support illegal immigration, which is totally detrimental to the fabric of our once great country. Both Macy’s and NBC totally caved at the first sight of potential difficulty with special interest groups who are nothing more than professional agitators, who are not looking out for the people they purport to represent, but only for themselves.

If elected, I will greatly strengthen our border, making it impenetrable, putting a stop to illegal immigration once and for all. I will bring jobs back to the United States— I will Make America Great Again!”

Petition organizer, Angelo Carusone credited Macy’s for making the right decision to sever ties with Trump, saying “Donald Trump’s brand of bigoted bullying is simply bad for business.”

Only time will tell what American voters really think...