In the United States, the tariff on imported blankets is 8.5 per cent, whereas the tariff on imported “pullover apparel” is significantly higher at 14.9 per cent. A U.S. trade court ruled that the product, a breakaway star of TV shopping that has appeared on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, The Today Show and Oprah, should be classified as a blanket, rather than clothing, as government lawyers had been trying to claim. The Snuggie case and others like it show how companies may go to great lengths to avoid the barriers governments impose on imported products. The judge sided with Snuggie last month, saying that the product was a blanket, not clothing, in part due to its lack of closures in the back. If the Trump administration chooses to introduce more tariffs and duties on imported products, it might give U.S. companies an edge in their domestic market.

Source: thestar March 11, 2017 15:00 UTC