Vietnam's shoe manufacturing association reacted strongly yesterday to a new European plan for 10 percent anti-dumping tariffs on Vietnamese-made leather shoes, saying the proposal would close down small businesses.
"We will continue to protest against these anti-dumping tariffs," said Nguyen Gia Thao, chairman of the Vietnam Leather and Footwear Association.
The European Commission on Wednesday recommended the introduction of tough anti-dumping import taxes of 16.5 percent on low-cost Chinese leather shoes and 10 percent for Vietnamese shoes.
These will affect 11 out of every 100 pair of shoes sold in Europe -- including children's footwear -- and could stay in place for up to five years.
The EU said the duties could add 1.40 euros to the average retail price of Chinese shoes selling for 35 euros in Europe if importers and retailers chose to pass the full cost on to customers.
Both duties would be applied for a period of five years. In contrast to preliminary fines imposed in March, the new duties would also apply to children's footwear.
The commission has accused Chinese and Vietnamese footwear exporters of artificially reducing prices through illegal state support like tax holidays, cheap land and subsidies for utilities.
EU officials have also argued that the cheap Asian shoes are damaging the European footwear industry and destroying jobs in Europe.
Both China and Vietnam denied they are dumping their products.
Thao called yesterday on the 25 EU member states to reject the new proposal, which must be approved before next month, when temporary anti-dumping measures expire.
A majority of EU states rejected a similar proposal in July.
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