By Tassilo Hummel and Mimosa Spencer
PARIS (Reuters) โ Luxury giant LVMH is โseriously consideringโ bulking up its production capacities in the United States, CEO Bernard Arnault said on Tuesday, praising a โwind of optimismโ in the country that contrasted with the โcold showerโ of potentially higher corporate taxes in France.
LVMH, which makes billions selling โmade in Franceโ luxury goods from leather handbags to champagne to the world, so far has little production capacity in the United States besides three Louis Vuitton workshops and some Tiffany jewelry-making sites.
But Arnault, who is also LVMHโs main shareholder, said he was open to increasing the companyโs footprint in the United States soon.
โItโs clear that we are being strongly pushed by the American authorities to continue to build out our presence. In the current context, this is something that weโre looking at seriously,โ he said, speaking to journalists after the company presented quarterly results.
Arnault and his family attended President Donald Trumpโs inauguration for a second term earlier this month.
Arnault and wife Helene Mercier and well as two of his children, Delphine Arnault and Alexandre Arnault, sat just a few metres from Trumpโs lectern, alongside other billionaires including Tesla founder Elon Musk and Meta Platforms boss Mark Zuckerberg.
Arnault, who early in his career worked as a real estate developer in the United States after he left France following the election of leftist President Francois Mitterrand, has known Trump for decades. Arnault had criticized Mitterand as anti-business.
During Trumpโs first term, Arnault invited him to cut the ribbon at a new Louis Vuitton leather atelier in Alvarado, Texas.
Arnault said U.S.-based factories benefit from attractive tax conditions and that Trump is encouraging investments in what he called a โvery dynamicโ market.
At the same time, Arnault โ Franceโs richest man โ voiced frustration about his home countryโs bureaucracy and recent plans to additionally tax large companies to plug a hole in the state budget.
โIโve just come back from the U.S. where you can see the wind of optimism going through the country. And when you come back to France after spending a few days in the U.S., itโs a bit of a cold shower, I have to say.โ
The U.S. market, where the French conglomerate employs more than 40,000 people, is key for LVMH, accounting for 25% of group sales.
(Reporting by Tassilo Hummel and Mimosa Spencer in Paris; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
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