According to a report in Reuters, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk told a meeting of the American Apparel and Footwear Association March 12 that the Obama administration is not supporting legislation that would eliminate most tariffs on imported footwear. However, according to a report from Outdoor Industry Association, that is neither what he said nor the position of the administration.

 

OIA said in a letter to members, Ambassador Kirk did acknowledge in his speech that the administration believes that one country, China, would be the primary beneficiary of the tariff elimination and that it is the administrations position that tariff elimination should be done through multilateral trade talks, specifically in the Doha Round, but he also said that one cannot argue with the logic of the bill.  China, however, is not the major beneficiary of the bill, American footwear companies and their customers are.  The Chinese dont pay the tariffs and are not impacted whether they are in place or not.  In fact, the footwear tariffs eliminated by the AFA now no longer serve the intended purpose and instead amount to an unnecessary, disproportionately high tax on outdoor and other footwear.  In addition, the AFA has the support of the entire footwear industry, including the few remaining producers of footwear in the United States.

 

OIA also pointed out that Ambassador Kirk said in testimony earlier this month before the Senate Finance Committee when replying to questions from the AFAs lead Democratic sponsor, Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), that while the administration was not in a position to support the legislation, they could find no challenges to it and passing the AFA was …a matter of congressional prerogative and not whether we (the administration) support it or not.  Kirk went on to acknowledge that the AFA is targeted at a product no longer made in the U.S. and agreed the legislation would help American consumers.

 

Counter to the impression left by press reports, the Affordable Footwear Act is actually gaining traction right now in Congress, said Alex Boian, director of trade policy at OIA, in an e-mail.

 

Through the support and efforts of Senator Cantwell, Senator Shaheen (D-NH), Senator/Assistant Majority Leader Durbin (D-IL), Senator Murray (D-WA) Senator/Vice Chair of Dem Conference Schumer (D-NY), Senator Brownback (R-KS), Senator Ensign (R-NV), Senator Gregg (R-NH), Senator Bond (R-MO), Senator Roberts (R-KS), Senator DeMint (R-SC) and other senators, the AFA was offered as an amendment to a jobs bill passed by the Senate this week. Although it was ultimately not included for technical and procedural reasons, there will be new opportunities in the coming weeks to pass AFA.