Senator Chuck Schumer is concerned with the NBA dressing its players in foreign gear. It's gotta be the shoes, right? Actually, it's the uniforms:
More from Senator Schumer's web site here.A U.S. senator from New York doesn't want NBA players taking to the court wearing jerseys made in Asia.
"Basketball is an American game," Sen. Charles Schumer said.
Schumer held a press conference Sunday outside the NBA Store on Fifth Avenue, where he urged the league to intervene and stop adidas from moving production of the NBA's official uniforms to Thailand, or pull out of its contract with the sports apparel giant.
"Adidas' plan is to outsource the jerseys to Thailand and with that, they threw an airball big time," Schumer said.
Saying adidas has broken its contract with an upstate New York company that poured $1 million into the facility, Schumer called on the NBA to end its deal with the jersey maker if it goes ahead with the move from Perry, N.Y.
"Because it's an American sport invented in America, played better in America than anywhere else, the jerseys ought to be made here in America," Schumer said.
Schumer said about 100 jobs are at stake at American Classic Outfitters' factory, where more than half the uniforms worn by Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and other NBA players are manufactured.
"The bottom line is that this outsourcing has gone too far," Schumer said.
Is basketball really all that American? The inventor of basketball was born and raised in Canada. And the players are getting more and more foreign ("un-American", to borrow from Stephen Colbert).
But let me put that all aside and ask the following legal questions. Let's say Senator Schumer succeeds in convincing Adidas to stay with the U.S. producer:
- Are his actions a "measure" that can be challenged in WTO dispute settlement?
- If so, would such actions violate any WTO obligations? Perhaps some U.S. services commitments?
- Is there a possible non-violation nullification or impairment claim (e.g., the U.S. lowered its tariff on these apparel products, but then prevented foreign production of such goods, thereby undermining the benefit)?
