Punitive EU duties on US sports footwear

The AAFA have announced that the European Union are imposing punitive new duties of 15% on European imports of certain US-made athletic footwear, shirts and sweaters, effective May 1. This will be in addition to normal duties. The 15% duty the EU already imposes on imports of certain US-made pants and blankets will continue. Europe claims the sanctions are in response to the continued application of the Byrd Amendment by the United States, which has been deemed illegal by the World Trade Organization (WTO). This is despite the fact that the US Congress has already passed legislation to discontinue the Byrd Amendment as of October 2007. The Byrd amendment allows for the distribution of the proceeds from the punitive duties in US anti-dumping and countervailing duty cases to be distributed to the US manufacturers who originally filed the anti-dumping or countervailing duty case. This situation is a perfect example of how an action that is supposedly meant to protect US manufacturers actually hurts them. Europe is the biggest export market for US apparel, footwear and textile products manufacturers. Source: Hidenet