Cutting Footwear Tariffs as Part of TPP Would Further Hurt U.S. Manufacturing, Says RPFMA
The relaxation of tariffs on imported footwear and footwear components would kill the last of the U.S. footwear manufacturing operations, said the Rubber and Plastic Footwear Manufacturers Association's (RPFMA) lawyer Marc Fleischaker in a July 31 email to International Trade Today. Fleischaker was responding to comments from the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America (FDRA) and its President, Matt Priest, urging consideration within Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations on the effect of higher footwear duties on U.S. jobs (see 13073011). The FDRA said higher duties haven't stemmed the loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs and have prevented footwear companies from adding other U.S. jobs elsewhere in the supply chain.
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The current tariff regime does not seem to have hurt reliance on international trade within the footwear industry, said Fleischaker. "The fact that imported footwear represents 99% of the U.S. market is a perfect illustration that the higher tariffs on the few products that are still produced in the U.S. have not impeded international trade," said the RPFMA, which represents domestic footwear producers. "Elimination of the remaining tariffs would simply result in elimination of the remaining U.S. manufacturing base. That simply cannot be a reasonable goal for U.S. trade negotiations." The FDRA represents a number of large footwear companies, many of which rely heavily on imports.
Priest was mistaken in saying "all domestically produced footwear is made from imported components" and it is "simply not credible to suggest that increasing the imports of footwear from 99% to 100% of the market is going to somehow magically create additional marketing or retail jobs in the United States," said the RPFMA. "Rather, such an act would simply eliminate the remainder of the U.S. manufacturing base. That would be inconsistent with our national interest, as well as the Administration’s stated desire to increase U.S. manufacturing."