03 Feb Matt Priest, President of FDRA, made the following comments on the signing of TPP in Auckland, New Zealand on February 4th, 2016 (NZDT):
“Today is an exciting day, with the signing of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. This historic trade agreement will provide significant savings to footwear consumers and companies once passed and implemented. This signing is a culmination of years of hard work from FDRA and its members to ensure the agreement has meaningful tariff cuts for footwear. Congress should now approve the agreement as soon as possible.”
Priest continued, “Delaying consideration of TPP until the limited timeframe of a lame-duck session of Congress puts at risk an agreement that would grow the economy and strengthen American leadership in a critical region of the world. Each day TPP is not in effect is another day where high footwear tariffs drive up costs for American consumers, limit product innovation, and stifle job creation.
“According to our estimates, this trade agreement will bring $450 million in savings in the first year after implementation and $6 billion in the first decade alone – providing much needed relief to footwear consumers nationwide. In the coming months, FDRA will continue to lead the charge with Members of Congress in explaining how TPP will strengthen our industry. We simply cannot wait to pass this agreement until after the election – the leadership is in place now to get this deal done.”
FDRA is the footwear industry’s voice in Washington. It represents over 130 footwear companies and 200 brands, or 80% of total U.S. footwear sales, making it America’s largest and most respected footwear trade association.
For more information on how tariffs and the TPP impact the footwear industry, please contact Andy Polk (202-737-5660).