20 Jan The Footwear Industry’s Response to the President’s SOTU – 400 Million Reasons Why America Needs TPP in 2015
FDRA President Matt Priest provided the following comments on the President’s State of the Union Address:
“For years now our leaders have been negotiating a Pacific free trade agreement that would greatly benefit American consumers and the footwear industry by providing nearly half a billion dollars in duty savings. I am encouraged that tonight the President strongly outlined in his State of the Union speech the need to pass the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in 2015. I was impressed he spoke so passionately about trade and is working to convince the public of its benefits and the Congress of the need to pass Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) – the same authority given to every President since Nixon. He will not be alone. The footwear industry is committed to telling its story and how TPA and TPP will help create and strengthen footwear design, marketing, logistics and retail jobs across America. The industry and our consumers paid over $2.7 billion in footwear duties in 2014, more than $400 million of which was taxed on TPP footwear imports alone. Imagine the impact on consumers and footwear companies if outdated footwear tariffs from the 1930s – reaching upwards of 67.5% – were eliminated on footwear out of TPP countries. I applaud the President for making a bipartisan appeal on this issue and believe tonight’s speech marks a huge step forward for our industry and American footwear consumers.”
A Picture Worth 400 Million Words – What TPP Means for Kids and Working Class Families: http://fdra.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/footwear-tariff-pic-impacting-childrens-shoes.jpg
Fast Footwear Facts:
– 99% of all shoes sold in the U.S. are made overseas, despite some the highest tariffs on any consumer product
– Footwear tariffs average 10% and reach upwards of 67.5%
– Footwear tariffs are regressive: duties on leather loafers are 8.5% versus 48% on most children’s shoes
– By the end of 2015, the TPP would provide duty savings of nearly $500 million dollars per year to Americans and the footwear industry – creating new
footwear design, marketing, distribution, and retails jobs
About FDRA: Founded in 1944, the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America (FDRA) is the voice of the footwear industry in Washington, DC. FDRA represents over 80% of the entire footwear industry from small family owned footwear businesses to global footwear companies. It also serves the full supply chain of the footwear industry from research, design and development, to manufacturing and distribution, to retailers selling to global consumers. Learn more at www.fdra.org