Join The Fight to Lower Footwear Costs And Create Jobs

16 Aug Join The Fight to Lower Footwear Costs And Create Jobs

TAKE ACTION! Click here to email United States Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman asking him to ensure duty free footwear is included in TPP negotiations for American jobs and lower footwear costs. It takes only 60 seconds.

Many Americans do not know that a hidden tax is imposed on footwear that raises the price of a pair of shoes far beyond what it should cost.  Higher prices hurt consumers, lowers footwear sales and negatively impacts job growth throughout the footwear industry supply chain.

FDRA, the oldest and largest footwear trade association in the U.S., is the only footwear trade association pushing for immediate and complete removal of ALL footwear tariffs that hurt hard working Americans.  The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a free trade agreement involving the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Chile, Peru, Canada, Mexico, and Japan.

Since Vietnam is the number two supplier of footwear to the U.S. market and growing, TPP will become the most commercially significant free trade agreement for footwear ever, BUT only if you join the fight to ensure footwear taxes are eliminated immediately!

Please take 60 seconds and tell USTR Michael Froman, who is negotiating TPP on behalf of America, to ensure footwear is duty free immediately when TPP is finalized.

Did You Know?

• American families are paying a hidden outdated tax on shoes, in the form of import tariffs, which can add as much as 30%, 40%, and up to 67.5% extra to the price of a pair of shoes.
• These tariffs are hurting the footwear industry’s ability to innovate, maintain global competitiveness and create new jobs in America.
• Footwear tariffs were created in the 1930s, but while other tariffs have dropped on goods like phones or cars, import taxes on shoes have remained exorbitantly high.
• 99.9% of all shoes sold in the U.S. are made overseas, meaning this tax hits every family, and hits lower-income families hardest.

Ensuring TPP includes duty free footwear means shoes will cost less, putting more money in the pockets of hard working lower and middle-income families at a time they need it most.

It means the footwear industry can focus even more on innovation and job creation here at home.   

If you have questions about the import duties, or TPP, please contact FDRA at info@fdra.org