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