November 7: The Federal Maritime Commission, the U.S. maritime watchdog, has seen no evidence of price-fixing by the recently formed ocean-shipping alliances and expects more consolidation from the industry during the worst downturn in 30 years, according to the agency’s head. ... The three alliances, which allow ship operators to save billions of dollars annually by sharing ships, networks and port calls, now move more than 95% of all cargo across the world’s oceans. Two of the alliances have been approved by the FMC and the approval application for the third one reached the agency early Monday. (Source: Wall Street Journal)
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November 7: ... Despite the sad state of American politics, there are a handful of substantive issues that have come to define this election cycle, one being the loss and possible return of US manufacturing jobs in sectors from automobiles to apparel. ... Now, after years of marketing messages proclaiming product quality and local job creation amongst the benefits of American-made goods, voters are asking: Doesn’t bringing large swaths of manufacturing activity back to the US make sense, for consumers, the economy and society at large? (Source: Business of Fashion)
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November 3: The White House on Thursday estimated that more than $5 billion in U.S. exports and millions of jobs could be threatened if Japan strikes a new trade deal with China without a similar agreement in place with the United States, part of the administration’s last-ditch efforts to push President Obama’s politically embattled plan to deepen economic ties with Asia. Japan is the largest country to sign on to Obama’s signature free-trade agreement with 11 nations along the Pacific Rim, known as the Trans Pacific Partnership, or TPP. Under the deal, Japan would eliminate tariffs on key U.S. industries, such as beef and tobacco, that are expected to drive much of the $357 billion increase in exports forecast over the next 15 years. (Source: Washington Post)
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November 2: This has been a very bad year for global trade. The World Trade Organization projects that trade will grow this year at the slowest rate since the financial crisis, and trade expansion has fallen behind growth in economic output. More significant to companies with global aspirations is that the politics surrounding trade seems to be worse than the economics. ... If global trade’s future is going to be as bright as its past, the business community must fundamentally rethink our approach to the politics of trade. (Source: Wall Street Journal)
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November 7: As one of the most divisive and mud-slinging elections in U.S. history hurtles to a close, the fashion and retail industries are holding their collective breaths to see which way the new president will tilt on key decisions impacting trade and the economy. ... For the industry, the key questions remain on what either candidate would do on trade — most urgently, the looming Trans-Pacific Partnership deal — and on such issues as the minimum wage, Made in the U.S. and immigration. (Source: Women's Wear Daily - login required)
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November 8: China's business regulator said it has warned leading online shopping companies, including Alibaba Group Holding and JD.com, against adopting dodgy sales tactics at the upcoming "Singles Day" festival, China's biggest shopping day of the year. ... The State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) said it met with Alibaba, JD.com, Amazon.com Inc, Baidu Inc, Tencent Holdings and several others on Monday and warned them against selling fakes, falsifying sales figures and engaging in other fraudulent practices. ( Source: Reuters)
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November 7: China has green-lit a sweeping and controversial law that may grant Beijing unprecedented access to foreign companies’ technology and hamstring their operations in the world’s second-largest economy. The Cyber Security Law was passed by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s top legislature, and will take effect in June, government officials said Monday. Among other things, it requires internet operators to cooperate with investigations involving crime and national security, and imposes mandatory testing and certification of computer equipment. Companies must also give government investigators full access to their data if wrong-doing is suspected. ( Source: Bloomberg)
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November 6: Hundreds of fake retail and product apps have popped up in Apple’s App Store in recent weeks — just in time to deceive holiday shoppers. ... Some of them appeared to be relatively harmless — essentially junk apps that served up annoying pop-up ads ... . But there are serious risks to using a fake app. Entering credit card information opens a customer to potential financial fraud. Some fake apps contain malware that can steal personal information or even lock the phone until the user pays a ransom. And some fakes encourage users to log in using their Facebook credentials, potentially exposing sensitive personal information. (Source: New York Times)
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In Brief
Election Day 2016! For live election results, follow updates on www.clothespac.org or www.EmployeesVote.org. Join the conversation on Twitter using #USElections2016.
Post-election
webinar for members: AAFA members are invited to our post-election webinar "The Elections - An Initial Look for AAFA Members" Thursday, November 10 at 2:00 PM ET. Register here. In advance of the webinar, members are encouraged to submit questions using this form.
Post-hearing
Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) comments: AAFA continues to push for the Obama Administration to designate all GSP beneficiary countries as eligible to export travel goods to the United States duty-free. AAFA's post-hearing comments and multi-association letter filed November 1 follow AAFA’s October 18 testimony.
Meet AAFA’s Environmental Committee: AAFA’s Environmental Committee (EC) provides a forum for AAFA members to discuss proper environmental stewardship and sustainability best practices for the industry. The next EC meeting will take place November 29 in New York. Members can join by emailing membership@aafaglobal.org.
See all of AAFA’s latest letters, comments, and testimony here.
Congress and government agencies solicit comments on a range of issues that may affect your business – find a list of comment opportunities here.
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November Nov. 10 Webinar: The Elections - An Initial Look for AAFA Members
Nov. 14 TPP Workshop in Vietnam
Nov. 15 International Product Safety and Compliance Conference in Vietnam
Nov. 16-17 Government Relations Full Committee Meeting and Day on the Hill
Nov. 29 Environmental Committee Meeting
Nov. 30 Social Responsibility Committee Meeting
Nov. 30 Knock it Off! Brands & the Counterfeiting Quandary Workshop
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AAFA members are invited to join our post-election webinar this Thurs. Nov. 10
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Visit our events calendar for all webinars and industry events. Be sure to save the date for AAFA's Executive Summit: March 1-3, 2017 at the newly remodeled Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C.
Other Industry Events
November 30, 2016 | New York, NY
Two Ten Footwear Foundation, the national charitable foundation of the U.S. footwear industry, will host its 77th annual VIP Dinner and Gala on November 30, 2016. The evening of philanthropy and entertainment will be held at the legendary Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City’s Manhattan Center. Click here for more information.
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Supply Chain
