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Article: SPECIAL INTERESTS; Louis Vuitton Hires Hands to Bag a Tariff
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- September 7, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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Louis Vuitton is going bananas--and hiring a bunch of lobbyists.
For about a year, the already pricey Louis Vuitton French handbags-
-they sell for many hundreds of dollars--have been subject to 100
percent tariffs here, as part of U.S. retaliation against the
European Union for refusing to open its banana markets to U.S.
multinational companies despite a World Trade Organization ruling in
favor of the Americans.
Deciding that the tariffs against a variety of European goods
hadn't had much of an effect on EU curbs on banana and beef imports,
Congress passed "carousel" legislation earlier this year directing
the administration to rotate its list of products for the tariffs to
spread the pain ...