Shoes hit with tariff

The European Union is to impose anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese and Vietnamese leather shoes from next month, the Wall Street Journal reported. Timberland said the duties could force a price rise in Europe as US$10 million will be wiped off 2006 profits as a result. The European Commission justified the decision by saying the flood of cheap imports was breaking world trade rules. The commission cited �clear evidence of disguised subsidies and unfair state intervention to the leather-footwear sector in China and Vietnam�. The duty will start at 4% on April 7 – later rising to 19.4% for Chinese shoes and 16.8% for Vietnamese footwear over six months. Half of the 2.5 billion pairs of shoes sold in the EU last year were made in China.