Obama Nike Speech Hints at Real Cuts to Footwear Tariffs, Says Concerned Trade Group

President Barack Obama’s speech to Nike on May 8, coupled with the Nike announcement to expand domestic production if negotiations reach a final Trans-Pacific Partnership deal, may indicate the company expects TPP to quickly reduce footwear tariffs, said the Rubber and Plastic Footwear Manufacturers Association in a press release on the same day. That “rapid tariff reduction” could imperil U.S. domestic manufacturing, said RPFMA trade counsel, Marc Fleischaker, in the release. “We have been very flexible in trying to come to an understanding with [the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative] that would ultimately accomplish the goal of reducing and eventually eliminating tariffs, without doing so in a way that threatens the existence of the current manufacturing base,” said Fleischaker. “In an exchange for such an approach, we have been careful to remain neutral on both [Trade Promotion Authority] and TPP.” U.S. domestic footwear manufacturing continues to rely on protective tariffs to stay competitive, said RPFMA. “These existing tariffs have not adversely affected imports of footwear,” said the association. “Imports from Vietnam have doubled in the last five years, and continue to increase.”