Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 27, 1993 TAG: 9311290182
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Officials at the U.S. International Trade Commission, hoping to give a boost to global free-trade talks, said Friday they had identified 44 sectors of the U.S. economy in which costs were being increased by trade barriers.
By far the biggest impact was in the apparel and textile sector, where high tariffs and quotas add $15.85 billion to the price of clothing and textiles annually, accounting for four-fifths of the total impact identified by the report.
The ITC estimated that the average price for apparel would drop 11.4 percent if the trade barriers were removed, the largest price decline for any of the sectors studied.
On average, it estimated a drop in consumer prices in sectors protected by trade barriers of 3 percent, if the barriers were removed. After clothing, some of the biggest price drops were in luggage, a drop of 9.1 percent, and sugar, 8 percent.
The commission, which rules on unfair trade complaints lodged by U.S. industry against foreign competitors, released its report as negotiators were struggling to wrap up a seven-year effort aimed at lower tariffs and other trade barriers around the world.
Those talks, which involve 115 nations under the auspices of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, face a Dec. 15 deadline. But many issues are far from resolved, because protected industries in every country have been fighting to retain their protection, fearing job losses from increased foreign competition.
The ITC report conceded that jobs would be lost with the removal of trade barriers. It estimated that the impact on the apparel industry alone would be a loss of 46,724 jobs, 6 percent of U.S. employment in that industry.
However, the report said there would be no adverse impact on overall employment in the United States, because jobs that were lost in protected industries would be offset by employment gains in other sectors as the economy benefited from the boost in consumer spending that would result from lower prices.
After textiles, apparel and ocean shipping, the ITC found the biggest price impacts in agriculture, including $847 million annually in higher dairy prices because of trade barriers; $657 million in higher sugar prices; $353 million in peanuts, and $177 million in meat.
Prices also were higher because of trade protection in footwear, watches, roller bearings, pressed and blown glass, costume jewelry, machine tools, frozen fruit and vegetables, ceramic wall and floor tiles and leather goods.
The impact of higher consumer prices in these categories ranged from $170 million for footwear down to $2 million each for leather gloves and china tableware.
\ SOME HIDDEN COSTS OF TRADE BARRIERS\ \ Nonrubber footwear - $170 million; 1,377 jobs lost.\ \ Ball and roller bearings - $45 million; 168 jobs lost.\ \ Pressed and blown glass - $44 million; 249 jobs lost.\ \ Costume jewelry - $42 million; 72 jobs lost.\ \ Machine tools - $31 million; 625 jobs lost.\ \ Intermediate chemical products - $24 million; 817 jobs lost.\ \ Frozen fruit, fruit juices and vegetables - $13 million; 512 jobs lost.\ \ Ceramic wall and floor tile - $12 million; 362 jobs lost.\ \ Electronic capacitors - $5 million; 1,011 jobs lost.\ \ Leather gloves - $2 million; 49 jobs lost.\ \ China tableware - $2 million; 397 jobs lost.
by CNB