Mexicos shoe industry fights for survival against foreign competition

“For years well over 1,200 Mexican companies have made leather shoes, handbags and clothes, without having to fear any foreign competition. However, the free trade agreements Mexico signed with various countries since the 1990s have opened the domestic market.

And at the end of 2007, the last tariffs shielding the Mexican shoemaker from the yellow danger posed by China are to be eliminated.

A few days ago, Mexican producers gathered at a fair in the traditional leather-city of Leon and demanded that the country keep its China-tariff of up to 1,000 percent for an extra five years. Mexican President Felipe Calderon has promised his support. But is it too late?”

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