Maine news, sports, weather from Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram, Portland, Maine

September 13, 2012

Trade rep to New Balance workers: No rush to change footwear tariffs

Ron Kirk: 'America is not afraid of a fight and not afraid of competition. We want to make manufacturing sexy again in America.'

By Doug Harlow dharlow@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer

NORRIDGEWOCK — U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk promised workers at the New Balance shoe factory Thursday morning that he was not going to rush into changes on footwear import tariffs.

Kirk was invited to the factory by U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud, D-2nd District. The visit was part of his commitment to preserving American jobs, while examining import duties to find a fair balance, Kirk said. Visiting the plant and seeing the workers in action was part of that strategy, he said.

"America is not afraid of a fight and not afraid of competition," he said. "We want to make manufacturing sexy again in America."

New Balance employs about 900 Maine workers at factories in Norridgewock, Oxford and Skowhegan. It is the last major footwear manufacturer to still make some of its product line in the United States.

Earlier this week, Reps. Sharon Treat, D-Hallowell, and Jeff McCabe, D-Skowhegan, said the message they heard Sunday at an international trade meeting in Leesburg, Va., was that protections for the footwear jobs are endangered.

A free-trade pact, called the Transpacific Partnership, is an 11-nation agreement under negotiation with the idea of creating jobs in the U.S. by increasing exports of industrial goods, agricultural products and textiles to parts of Asia and the Pacific Rim. However, the agreement also could lift some tariffs, or import duties, on goods including athletic footwear, making imported, foreign-made shoes cheaper to buy than those made in the United States and hurt American workers.

Kirk, a former mayor of Dallas, told more than 380 New Balance workers assembled in the plant's cafeteria that the Transpacific Partnership is a two-way street. If the pact is approved, a wide range of American-made goods would have new markets, he said.

Kirk said a tariff amounts to a direct tax on the consumer. He said the goal of his office is to have trade policies that are fair and balanced, while also protecting the U.S. manufacturing base.

"The reality is 95 percent of the world's consumers live somewhere other than America," Kirk said. "One of the ways we're going to create the jobs Americans are looking for is: 'Now we want to sell them our stuff.'

"We want kids in China, Hanoi and Brazil and Africa wearing New Balance and driving Chevys and eating food made in America. That's the balance we're trying to strike."

Led on a tour of the Norridgewock facility by plant manager Raye Wentworth and New Balance President and CEO Rob DeMartini, Kirk visited work stations where some of 4,200 pairs of athletic shoes in nine different styles are made every day. Michaud also joined the tour, as did representatives from the offices of U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins.

One section had a small sign welcoming Kirk. At her work station, New Balance employee Jill Johnson had pictures of her two little girls, illustrating the importance of keeping jobs for Maine families.

From her work station on the factory floor, Melanie Knight, of New Sharon, a mother of two, said she makes $14 an hour and wants to keep her job. She said Kirk's visit and the throng of Maine media following him Thursday was a positive sign.

"I think it's wonderful," she said. "I hope we keep our jobs."

DeMartini said during the tour that he felt Kirk's visit to Maine was encouraging.

(Continued on page 2)

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