Footwear Lobbyist Dismisses Conservative Threat to TPA, Pushes Support for MTB
The conservative organizations aiming to obstruct Trade Promotion Authority are not swaying Republican support for the legislation, said Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America President Matt Priest on Jan. 15, noting that no lawmakers attended their anti-TPA press conference held in recent days. The conservative organizations rejected TPA in the Jan. 13 press conference and a letter to lawmakers (see 1501140011). Democrats have also ramped up pressure to defeat TPA (see 1501090022).
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Republicans are committed to TPA and the broader trade agenda, and the mid-term Republican victory breathed new life into Congress, said Priest. Many lawmakers, including Ways and Means Committee members, are also supportive of footwear-related legislation, according to recent FRDA meetings on Capitol Hill, said Priest and FRDA’s new legislative point man Thomas Crockett (see 1501050015).
TPA should serve as a package to move the lot of other trade bills on the agenda, including Customs Reauthorization, preferences programs and the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill. The Republican Party’s failure to rally support for the MTB is an “embarrassment,” said Priest. MTB expired in 2012, and has since languished over Republican opposition to earmarks. The program expired at the end of 2012, but since 2006 it saved footwear importers $147 million in duties, said Priest. Many industry representatives dismiss the characterization of duty eliminations as earmarks in the MTB bill. Priest called the earmark opposition “silly, in-house conference rules.”
The footwear industry aims to cut barriers to its trade in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, said Priest, adding that free trade agreements have so far barely helped the footwear industry. Because of the “confidential” negotiations, there isn’t yet an update though on U.S. pressure to eliminate a controversial Japanese tariff-rate quota for U.S.-made and U.S.-branded leather footwear (see 14040816).