Trump critics set sneakers ablaze

Trump-haters burn New Balance sneakers in protest of President-elect Trump and the shoe company's support for his anti-TPP policies (Photo: Twitter)

Donald Trump-haters are burning, trashing and flushing their New Balance sneakers.

It's all because the shoe company stated that President Obama disregarded trade concerns and America is moving in the "right direction" under Trump's trade policy.

"The Obama admin turned a deaf ear to us [and] frankly [with] Pres-elect Trump we feel things are going to move in the right direction," the vice president of New Balance said, according to Wall Street Journal reporter Sara Germano, who tweeted the quote Wednesday evening.

New Balance has long opposed the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP. The shoe makers aim to manufacture a shoe with 100 percent American-made materials. But the TPP all but guarantees American-made sneaker materials will be more expensive than foreign-made parts.

New Balance notes that it is "the only major American company to make or assemble more than 4 million pairs of athletic footwear per year in the USA."

It's competitor, Nike, supports TPP, claiming it will allow it to bring 10,000 jobs back to the U.S. Most of Nike's factories are located in Indonesia, China, Taiwan, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan, Philippines and Malaysia. It also has some in Turkey, Sri Lanka, Mexico, Malaysia, Japan, Brazil, Australia and other foreign nations in addition to the U.S.

Trump has said TPP is a "death blow" to U.S. manufacturing.

"The Trans-Pacific Partnership is the greatest danger yet," Trump told a Pennsylvania crowd in June. "The TPP, as it's known, would be the death blow for American manufacturing. It would give up all of our economic leverage to an international commission that would put the interests of foreign countries above our own. It would further open our markets to aggressive currency cheaters. Cheaters, that's what they are. Cheaters. They're not playing by the rules. They're cheating.

"It would make it easier for our trading competitors to ship cheap, subsidized goods into United States markets while allowing foreign countries to continue putting up barriers in front of our exports, which is what they do. It's very hard to export to their countries; they make it very difficult. We, on the other hand, 'C'mon in everybody! C'mon in!' Bad leadership."

After the frenzy began, New Balance gave SoleCollector.com a clarification of its position:

As the only major company that still makes athletic shoes in the United States, New Balance has a unique perspective on trade and trade policy in that we want to make more shoes in the United States, not less. New Balance publicly supported the trade positions of Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Donald Trump prior to Election Day that focused on American manufacturing job creation and we continue to support them today.

Some social media users apparently took New Balance's first statement to be an endorsement of the president-elect and all of his policies.

Now they've begun trashing, flushing and burning their New Balance sneakers in protest and posting photos of the destruction on Twitter.

The following are just a few examples of recent posts.

Other Trump critics on Twitter chose to trash their New Balance sneakers or chuck the shoes out windows. One person even tried to flush them down the toilet.

The destruction of New Balance sneakers sparked a flurry of tweets, including the following:

New Balance just became the official sport shoe of bigotry.
The left claims to want jobs in America, but are protesting New Balance, the only running shoe brand Made in the USA, b/c of Trump affiliation.
Seriously, people are burning New Balance shoes? Why? There are people out there who need shoes. Go donate them. Give them to people in need!
To everyone burning and throwing away their New Balance shoes, they already made money on those pairs. They appreciate your business.
New Balance makes more than 4 million pairs of sneakers per year in America. They oppose TPP. WHY are you burning your NB sneakers, morons?
Instead of burning your New Balance shoes because they supported Trump, donate them to Goodwill, Salvation Army or a homeless shelter.
New Balance shoes are actually made in the U.S., unlike Nike, Adidas and Reebok etc. They deserve credit for making jobs.
Buy New Balance! New Balance wants to manufacture their products in the U.S. Thank you, New Balance, for showing your patriotism!
Anyone who feels the need to burn their New Balance, please do so while wearing them.