French luxury giant LVMH is considering moving some of its manufacturing to the US as President Donald Trump’s tariffs loom.
In a revenue call with investors on Monday, LVMH’s finance chief Cecile Cabanis was asked if the group had any plans to shift a larger portion of its manufacturing to the US to mitigate potential tariff risk.
Cabanis replied that there is “still capacity” to increase the production of Louis Vuitton products in the US. The house has three production facilities in the US, which account for a third of the country’s supply, she said.
Cabanis said jewelry brand Tiffany & Co., a subsidiary of LVMH, produces most of its US supply domestically, but there was “still some room” to move some of its production from Europe to the US.
“So we are looking at that, obviously,” she added.
She also said that increasing US production is “something that you don’t do overnight.”
“It’s with some constraints in terms of recruiting, training, having the right level of experience and expertise,” she added. “We are not today contemplating to change radically, but this is what we could do. “
In January, LVMH’s CEO, Bernard Arnault, said in an earnings call that the company was considering relocating to the US, lamenting France’s proposed tax hikes and saying there was a “momentum of optimism” in the US.
However, he backtracked after receiving backlash over his comments.
“I never said that we were going to relocate the LVMH group. This statement is false,” Arnault said in a statement posted on the company’s X account in January.
LVMH reported a 3% revenue loss in its first quarter this year compared to the same period last year. It was weighed down by a 9% decline in its wines and spirits division and a 5% decline in its fashion and leather goods division.
The group’s stock price remained constant after the earnings were released. It is down about 33% compared to last year.
Monday’s revenue call comes after Trump announced a 90-day pause on his reciprocal tariffs, which were set to go into effect on April 9.
Before the pause was announced, imports from the European Union, where LVMH is based, were set to be hit with a 20% tariff.
Representatives for LVMH did not respond to a request for comment from BI.
