Mexico seeks extended quotas on Chinese shoes
Fearing for the future of the domestic industry if it is not protected from cheap Chinese imports, the Mexican footwear sector has appealed to the government to implement further quotas on Chinese-made shoes for another five-year period, after tariffs — that had been in place since China joined to the World Trade Organization in 2001 — ended on December 31.
The lifting of quotas has caused uproar in the industry and thousands of shoemakers took to the streets in December over what they viewed as the federal government's lack of interest in their plight once the quotas expired (see www.footwearbiz.com December 13, 2007).
Although the government did then impose temporary tariffs in order to assess claims of Chinese footwear being dumped, the industry is now demanding more concrete action to protect the sector. Speaking at a press conference José Antonio Abugaber, president of the Shoe Industry Chamber of the State of Guanajuato (CICEG), said: “The footwear sector has intensified its efforts to demonstrate to the authorities that we are against the elimination of compensatory quotas on footwear originating from China and that the massive entry of these shoes will cause serious damage to our manufacturers and artisans.”
