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Donald Trump’s presidency will boost the upper middle class, the chief executive of luxury handbag maker Mulberry said, amid hopes stronger US sales will help to reverse a wider slump.
Andrea Baldo, who took over as the boss of Mulberry in September, said the new US administration would “benefit some of our target customers who are more in the high, middle class”, adding: “Honestly I see it as positive.”
It follows pledges by Donald Trump to give the public “even bigger” tax cuts on his campaign trail as he sought to win over middle class voters.
The president-elect has signalled he could extend the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which would mean permanently lower personal tax rates across income brackets. The Tax Policy Center suggests this would mean high-income families would receive roughly $11,420 (£9,030) in extra savings.
He also floated the idea of cutting capital gains tax to spur growth, in a move which would boost wealthy investors.
It would put the US at odds with the approach taken by the UK Government which last month announced plans to raise capital gains tax rates. Rachel Reeves claimed this was necessary to fund the UK’s public services and restore its public finances.
The Mulberry chief said he saw a growing opportunity to sell more of its Somerset-made handbags into the US market.
“There’s a big opportunity in the US if we have the right product. There’s much more of a larger group that we can target, I think.”
It comes despite warnings that the US president-elect risks damaging Britain’s luxury market.
Mr Trump has said he plans to bring in levies of 60pc on Chinese products being sold to American businesses, alongside 20pc tariffs on all other imports.
Luxury trade group Walpole earlier this month issued a warning over the proposals, saying North America was a “huge export market” for British luxury goods, accounting for around a quarter of all global exports or £13bn.
Writing to members earlier this month, Walpole chief executive Helen Brocklebank said: “This would be a clear threat to the success of British luxury brands, and the hundreds of thousands of highly skilled jobs which our sector supports.”
However, Mulberry shrugged off the risk on Tuesday, saying it was too early to see whether this would hurt the handbag maker. It said it was feeling more optimistic on selling into the US given the “opportunity there is so big”.
Sales in the US were up 9pc in the first six months of the year to the end of September, partially offsetting a sales slump in the UK and Asia Pacific. Overall, revenues were down a fifth in the first half of the year to £56m.