US retailers are warning that the new round of trade tariffs threatens to accelerate job losses in retail, the only sector of the economy to have shed jobs in the past two years. A wave of bankruptcies and store closures show that the retail trade is employing 49 000 fewer people in July 2019 than in July 2017. In contrast, transport and warehousing added 370 00 positions over the same period, according to the Federal Reserve Bank and the U Bureau of Labor Statistics. Although the 10% tariffs are lower than the 25% previously threatened, several retail associations have warned that they will prove too much for weaker businesses already struggling with thin margins and other pressures from changing consumer tastes and habits.

Job losses have been driven by bankruptcies of big employers including Sears as well as cost-cutting and store closures from May's and more recently from Lowe's.