There is one potential issue to avoid: that of Washington imposing an additional 25% duty on Italian fashion products. LHCA, US leather association and UNIC – Italian Tanneries, joined forced. That’s because, after all, a duty on goods exchanged between the two sides of the Atlantic would end up damaging both parties.
Italian fashion
The US international commerce agency (USTR – US Trade Representative) initiated public consultations to identify the list of Italian products onto which to apply the additional duty, or the “retaliatory duty”. This would be the action that would add an additional 25% to the existing duty, as a form of “vengeance” against the web tax imposed by Rome on giant US web companies. The categories in USTR’s cross-sights include the strongest segments of the fashion industry: footwear, leather goods, apparel and eyewear.
Expectations and precedents
“We have analyzed the potential damages – communicated UNIC (association part of Confindustria Moda) – resulting from the mentioned action. Thanks to our support, LHCA has formally opposed the proposed duty increment”. The US leather segment is hostile toward the said action, as it’s strictly tied and complementary to the Italian one: “Retaliatory measures against a commercial partner such as Italy, number 1 importer of semi-finished leather from the USA, would be extremely damaging for the leather industry and its consumers”. The two associations already have a success story behind their collaboration: in 2019 they managed, by joining forces, to avoid that the Boeing-Airbus matter have any impact on leather goods and leather accessories. They now await the verdict from USTR.
Image from Shutterstock
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