The United States Fashion Industry Association (USFIA) filed comments to the United States Trade Representative (USTR) opposing retaliatory tariffs of up to 100 percent on products of France, including handbags and tableware, over France’s Digital Services Tax. 

The comments explain that the U.S.-EU trade relationship is important to retail operations and for sourcing and that tariffs will only harm American fashion brands and retailers, as well as consumers. “Retailers and brands are concerned about the future expansion of digital tax regimes and we strongly support an international solution that will restrict the ability of individual countries to impose new restrictions. However, we believe that a solution to the tax policy issues is the best strategy, and one that likely would be more successful than relying on the retaliation through higher penalty tariffs that will have an obvious negative impact on the US fashion industry.” The full comments are available here.