Congressional Leaders Push Footwear Tariff Elimination
A bipartisan group of 15 prominent U.S. Senators submitted a letter (here) to newly inducted USTR head Michael Froman on July 9, urging decrease in footwear tariffs as part of the ongoing Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations. The Senators emphasized the…
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need to liberalize footwear imports with prospective TPP signatory Vietnam, noting 8 percent of U.S. footwear imports originate in the Southeast Asian nation. The letter said 99 percent of footwear sold in the U.S. is imported, and therefore duty relief will not jeopardize U.S. manufacturing employment. Forty-five U.S. House members submitted another letter (here) to Froman the following day on July 10. While the letter largely reiterated the arguments of the Senate submission, House members stressed U.S. innovation jobs will be produced through footwear tariff relief. Footwear design, engineering and technological development positions are located in the U.S., according to the letter.