US Shoe Tariffs

choi

Aida Ahmad, Shoe Importers Push to Cut US Tariffs. Los Angeles Times, June 13, 2012.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-shoe-tariffs-20120613,0,7702140.story

Quote:

"virtually all the shoes sold at Payless in the US are made overseas and subject to an import tax, or tariff, of as much as 67.5%.

"Shoe tariffs date to the Great Depression, when Congress approved the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930. At the time, there was a large footwear industry in the US that made rubber and canvas shoes at a low cost. The tariffs were imposed to protect these U.S. companies from cheaper imports. But today more than 90% of shoes are imported, yet these shoe tariffs remain in effect.

"New Balance is the last athletic footwear manufacturer in the US. * * * About 7 million pairs of shoes that New Balance produces each year in the U.S. make up a quarter of U.S. sales. The rest are made in Britain, China, Indonesia, and Vietnam.

Note: New Balance
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Balance
(based in Boston, Massachusetts; founded in 1906 [by William J Riley, a 33-year old British emigrant]; Eschewing expensive advertising campaigns, it has, nevertheless, grown to be one of the largest makers of sports footwear in the world; New Balance has continued to maintain a manufacturing presence in the United States as well as in the United Kingdom for the European market)