Senate Republicans Letter to Trump on Tariff Relief
Today Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and a majority of the Republican members of the Senate Finance Committee sent a letter to President Trump urging him to use tariff relief to address the economic fallout from the coronavirus. As the letter to President Trump states, "One area where you have immediate tools at your disposal to decrease the economic harm from COVID-19 is trade policy." FDRA has advocated for several of the recom mendations highlighted in the letter. The letter calls on the President to:

  • Temporarily defer duty collection (allowing businesses to opt-in), similar to the decision to extend the tax-filing deadline by an additional 90 days.

  • Expand Section 301 tariff relief by reopening the exclusion process to companies that were denied exclusions or did not apply, and automatically extend the current exclusions for another year. The letter highlights that although the Administration has invited comments on Section 301 tariff relief for health-related products, "we need to ensure that all industries whose circumstances have changed because of the outbreak can seek exclusions."

  • Apply a total moratorium on new tariffs or tariff increases, since business and consumers will not have flexibility to adapt to tariffs as a result of the economic strain of COVID-19.
FDRA has led and supported a number of letters to the Administration as it prepares the economic relief package, which you can read here:






Today (March 25th), FDRA also contacted the Federal Reserve in support of relief for footwear companies.

We will cover the latest developments on our weekly FDRA coronavirus call on Tuesday, March 31st at 2:00 p.m. EDT.
FDRA on Fox Business on Coronavirus
Watch the video of FDRA President & CEO Matt Priest on Fox Business :
REMINDER: FDRA Call with CBP Tomorrow
Join FDRA tomorrow, Thursday, March 26th, at 2:00 p.m. EDT for the start of a new series of quarterly calls with officials from Customs & Border Protection (CBP). Hear directly from the source on issues of seizures, imports, compliance, CTPAT, and much more! Make sure to register using the link below and let us know what issues and questions you would like to raise on the call.
Take Action TODAY for Footwear Relief in the Economic Response to the Coronavirus Crisis
Footwear employees have sent over 5000 letters to Congress, and Ohio is currently leading the efforts. WE NEED YOUR HELP to make the industry's voice heard.
The Administration plans to advance a number of measures to help stimulate the U.S. economy during the coronavirus outbreak. FDRA is advocating that the relief package should include tools to help footwear companies and retailers manage their operations during the crisis.

You can send a letter below ( Due to the volume of footwear employees currently sending letters, it may take just a few minutes for the embedded widget that populates the form to load the form so that you can enter the information ). Please make your voice heard and send a strong message to Congress on behalf of the footwear industry.
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