{"id":461954,"date":"2026-04-23T12:52:29","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T11:52:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/?p=461954"},"modified":"2026-04-23T12:52:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T11:52:29","slug":"passenger-ceo-on-tariffs-leading-to-a-pause-in-its-us-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.drapersonline.com\/news\/passenger-ceo-on-tariffs-leading-to-a-pause-in-its-us-plans","title":{"rendered":"Passenger CEO on tariffs leading to a pause in its US plans"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Like any band, you want to break America,” Lane said.<\/p>\n

Following a strong growth curve and traction in the US, Passenger opened a warehouse near Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

“But one of the things you can’t plan for is what some guy in the White House is going to do,” he added.<\/p>\n

Passenger paused its US operations<\/a> in April 2025, with \u00a35m of stock stuck at customs. “That’s an \u00a38-9m cash call if it gets through customs,” said Lane. “What do you have to do in that situation? The economics stare you in the face. You’re going to lose money on every unit and you don\u2019t have the cash.”<\/p>\n

“You’ve got to put something into action because every extra day, minute, hour we spend is just going to cost more money,” he continued. “How do we stop and say this is not going to work?”<\/p>\n

Passenger was able to get the stock back to the UK and pause the US operation. Lane said that US customers continue to attempt to buy from the UK site.<\/p>\n

“It was painful because even if we pivoted back into Europe, we aren’t going to make that \u00a320m [loss from US exit] there in a year,” he said. “It was a painful decision, but it was [also] really easy.”<\/p>\n

“Every day counts,” continued Lane. “It’s such an obvious decision and you can make it quickly. If it’s black and white, just make the decision.”<\/p>\n

Passenger had already built up a US team and a UK team to service the demand, both of which had to be reconsidered. “The organisation in general was not used to having a knockback like that,” Lane said.<\/p>\n

Jon explained that whether or not the business will reestablish its presence in the US depends “who’s incumbent in the White House”: “It would be great to go there – the brand absolutely works in the US.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Like any band, you want to break America,” Lane said. Following a strong growth curve and traction in the US, Passenger opened a warehouse near Las Vegas. “But one of the things you can’t plan for is what some guy in the White House is going to do,” he added. Passenger paused its US operations …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119055,"featured_media":461956,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85685,7751,962,76780,995],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-461954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drapers-supply-chain-summit","category-international","category-news","category-subscriber-only-content","category-supply-chain","editorial-international","editorial-supply-chain"],"yoast_head":"\nPassenger CEO on tariffs leading to a pause in its US plans<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Passenger was forced to abandon US entry plans following President Donald Trump's Liberation Day tariffs last year, CEO Jon Lane told delegates at the Drapers Supply Chain Summit yesterday (23 April).\" \/>\n<meta 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