On June 9, 2013, USA-ITA filed comments on Japan’s entry into the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations. As you know, the U.S. formally invited Japan to participate and the 90-day review period is currently underway. With the assistance of Washington Counsel David Spooner, we updated the comments previously filed in 2012, noting that we support Japan’s participation as it will provide our members with “duty-free entry into Japan’s lucrative and influential retail market.” The comments also call for a “workable rule of origin” and notes, “A reduction of Japan’s high apparel tariffs would be meaningless, of course, if the final TPP Agreement includes a rule of origin that is so protectionist that it is unusable for apparel producers. U.S. brands and retailers have long conveyed to USTR that a yarn-forward rule of origin in the TPP would eviscerate the benefits for apparel producers in the Agreement, harming many of America’s more innovative and well-known companies, as well as the thousands of jobs they support.”
Fashion made possible by global trade
Fashion made possible by global trade
Fashion made possible by global trade
