IMRA SUPPORTS U.S. TRADE WITH SINGAPORE

IMRA SUPPORTS U.S. TRADE WITH SINGAPORE    The International Mass Retail Association urged the United States to promote a free trade agreement with Singapore that would take advantage of Singapore’s open markets.
   “Given Singapore’s extremely open market, we have long believed that an FTA could only lead to U.S. duty restrictions,” said Robert Verdisco, IMRA president, in a letter to the U.S. Trade Representative’s policy committee.
   Verdisco said Singapore imposes tariffs on only 2 percent of imports, and that a free trade agreement with Singapore could help open its marketplace for retailers to open stores there.
   IMRA said U.S. retailers, importers and consumers would benefit from a U.S-Singapore free trade agreement that reduces U.S. tariffs on certain categories of consumer products, particularly electronics and apparel.
   In 1999, Singapore exported more than $3 billion in consumer electronics products, and more than $300 million in knitted and woven apparel. Verdisco said a full elimination of duties on those products would offer savings for U.S. retailers, without greatly affecting jobs in the United States.
   “These industries have largely already adjusted to international competition,” Verdisco wrote in the letter.
   IMRA said U.S. apparel tariffs average 12 percent, while other manufactured goods average less than 3 percent. IMRA is urging the United States to reduce U.S. duties on these products over no more than five years, and not to impose special rules of origin for apparel to qualify for duty-free treatment. It also supports negotiation of a quota-free relationship with Singapore on their apparel exports to the United States.