ALEXANDRIA, Va.—This weekend, The Vision Council, the American Academy of Ophthalmology, National Association of Opticians and Optometrists, Opticians Association of America, National Association of Vision Care Plans, Prevent Blindness, and OneSight jointly filed a letter to the United States Trade Representative (USTR) in opposition of the China 301 duties on optical products. VMail previously reported on the tariffs and how they might affect the optical industry. The organizations stated that they hope to make the optical community’s concerns regarding this tariff known. They argue in their joint statement that optical products are medical devices that do not contain industrially significant technology and that U.S. consumers will experience economic harm from the proposed tariffs.
This Thursday, June 20, Kenneth Bradley, chairman of The Vision Council Board of Directors, will represent the optical industry and testify at the Section 301 Tariffs Hearing Panel.
To read the full joint letter, click here. Questions can be directed to Greg Chavez, The Vision Council’s executive vice president of operations and membership, at gchavez@thevisioncouncil.org.
In addition to The Vision Council and Bradley's testimony, another eyewear company executive, John Alofs, CEO of ROI Eyewear, told VMAIL he is also on the schedule for June 20 to provide testimony, objecting to the proposed tariffs. Overall, an extensive range of executives and leaders from associations and companies in such fields as retail, fashion, electronics, lighting, utilities, steel, plastics, juvenile products, furniture, transportation, technology and footwear are on the schedule, which started June 17 and currently runs for seven days.
Details on the hearings are posted on the USTR site. In addition, several thousand individual comments have been posted as well.
