United States Proposes Eventual Elimination Of Tariffs

United States Proposes Eventual Elimination Of Tariffs
U.S. Trade Representative (UStr) Robert B. Zoellick has proposed to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to eliminate all tariffs on consumer and industrial products by 2015. He said the plan would benefit both developing and developed countries and would result in significant savings for American consumers.The plan calls for industrial and consumer goods tariffs that currently are 5 percent or lower to be removed by 2010 and all remaining tariffs to be reduced to 8 percent. Moreover, tariffs on certain "highly traded" commodities should be reduced no later than 2010. Between 2010 and 2015, countries would be required to make equal annual reductions until all tariffs are gone by 2015.

UStr Robert ZoellickKevin M. Burke, president and CEO of the American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA), enthusiastically endorsed the proposal, saying the "scope and reciprocal nature of this initiative are unprecedented and long overdue."However, U.S. textile manufacturers saw the proposal in an entirely different light, charging that it would jeopardize jobs in the United States, Mexico, Central America, the Andean region and Sub-Saharan Africa that depend on preferential textile trade programs.Although the Zoellick proposal calls for a separate program to eliminate non-tariff barriers, that did not satisfy the American Textile Manufacturers Institute (ATMI). It said that same promise was made in the 1994 round of trade negotiations, and those barriers still remain today. ATMI is sticking to its position that the U.S. should not make any further tariff concessions until other countries agree to reduce their tariffs to U.S. levels and eliminate all non-tariff barriers.
Spring 2003