Shoe Imports From Taiwan, Korea Rose Shortly Before House Action

Shipments of shoes to the United States, especially from Taiwan and South Korea, increased last spring before Congress took up a bill to freeze imports, the U.S. International Trade Commission reports.

It says that between April and June, imports rose by 12% to 245 million pairs valued at $1.7 billion. A summary of the report, dated Sept. 25, was released Tuesday.

The House last month passed by a vote of 263-156 a bill to freeze imports at the 1986 level. It has not yet come up in the Senate.

The same bill also would limit imports of cloth and clothing, and President Reagan has threatened to veto it. Support for the bill in the House fell short of the two-thirds that would be needed to override a veto, but sentiments still could change.

A bill to limit the imports failed last year after Reagan vetoed it and the vote to override the veto fell short.

Declines in U.S. production and jobs, attributed to the growth of imports from low-wage countries, furnish the arguments used by supporters of the bill.