There is no doubt that the change in the U. S. presidency has helped to improve trade relations with Spain. The recent announcement of the postponement of the increase in tariffs on Spanish footwear was joined a few days ago by the G7 agreement to achieve tax harmonization for large multinationals. In addition to these announcements, on June 15, the special tariffs on Spanish products such as wine and olive oil were suspended for five years at the U.S. borders. This pressure measure was implemented in retaliation for the Airbus-Boing conflict, a trade dispute maintained with the European Union for the last 17 years.
The Spanish Government has welcomed this decision. “The agreement reached represents a historic step towards ending the longest trade dispute within the WTO and definitively eliminating tariffs that have weighed down the Spanish aeronautical and agri-food industries, as well as being able to recover Spanish export and investment operations in the U.S. market, which is key for our companies and for the recovery of the Spanish economy,” said the Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto.
This new meeting between the United States and its trading partners in Europe further distances the threat of a 25 percent increase in tariffs on footwear from Spain. According to calculations by the Federation of Spanish Footwear Industries(FICE), if the new tariffs on Spanish shoes were to be implemented, “irreparable damage would be caused to a relevant sector of the industrial fabric and would entail the loss of thousands of jobs, estimated at more than 1,500 direct and 5,600 indirect”.
Source: www.revistadelcalzado.com
