China, Vietnam face off against EU

Chinese and Vietnamese shoemakers are working together to fight the European Union's projected high tariffs on shoe imports, the Wall Street Journal reported. The alliance has aroused European and American retailers to join the cause and has likely won an exemption for athletic footwear, affecting the major brands of Adidas-Salomon and Nike. China has hired top legal help to meet the EU's anti-dumping probe. The Chinese coalition now includes 170 factories that employ 250,000 workers. EU investigators reported significant differences between production and sales costs for Chinese and Vietnamese shoes, as well as finding that producers received government subsidies and soft loans.