Senators urge Pentagon to buy U.S-made shoes
Maine's U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King have joined 13 other senators in signing a letter asking the Department of Defense to buy only American-made athletic footwear for military personnel.
According to a report by WABI TV, the April 19 letter asks President Barack Obama to apply a 1941 law requiring the military to buy American-made products for soldiers whenever possible, a position that 2nd District Rep. Mike Michaud shares and also has lobbied the White House to take. The senators say U.S. footwear manufacturing jobs could be increased if the military applied the same procurement policy to athletic footwear that it uses when buying combat boots and other uniform items.
Collins and King say the military's policy has placed jobs in jeopardy Maine, where New Balance has three factories employing about 900 people, and Massachusetts, where the company is based. New Balance, the last surviving American athletic footwear manufacturer, also faces a competitive challenge in the ongoing Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade talks between the United States and Pacific-rim nations that could eliminate the footwear tariffs now imposed on Vietnam, which has become, after China, the second-largest source of shoes imported into the United States.
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