Report Says Tariffs Cost U.S. Shoppers $19 Billion a Year : Commerce: The U.S. International Trade Commission releases the figures to boost global talks. It acknowledges that removing barriers would result in job losses.

Trade barriers imposed by the United States on foreign products cost Americans $19 billion a year by driving up the price of everything from winter coats and costume jewelry to candy bars and ceramic wall tile, according to a new government report.

Officials at the U.S. International Trade Commission, hoping to give a boost to global free-trade talks, said Friday that they identified 44 sectors of the U.S. economy where costs were being increased by trade barriers.

The report came as negotiators from the United States and the 12-nation European Community continued talks Friday in Washington in an effort to resolve outstanding issues that have blocked completion of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. The biggest obstacle is the objection by the French to steep reductions in farm subsidies, a move being pushed by the United States.

Anne Lazzatto, chief spokeswoman for U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor, said the talks could continue through the weekend. Kantor and Sir Leon Brittan, chief trade negotiator for the EC, are scheduled to meet again Wednesday in Brussels to see if a final deal can be struck.

The ITC report found by far the biggest impact of trade barriers in the apparel and textile sector. High tariffs and quotas in those areas add $15.85 billion to the price of apparel and textile items annually, accounting for four-fifths of the impact identified by the report.

The ITC, which rules on complaints of unfair trade lodged by U.S. industry against foreign competitors, estimated that the average prices of apparel products would drop by 11.4% if the trade barriers were removed, the largest price decline for any of the sectors studied.

On average, it estimated a drop in consumer prices in sectors protected by trade barriers of 3% if the barriers were removed. After clothing, some of the biggest price drops were in luggage, a decrease of 9.1%, and sugar, a drop of 8%.

The ITC report concedes that jobs would be lost from the removal of trade barriers. It estimates that the impact on the apparel industry alone would be a loss of 46,724 jobs, representing 6% of U.S. employment in that industry.

However, the report says there would be no adverse impact on overall employment in the United States because jobs that were lost in protected industries would be offset by employment gains in other sectors as the economy benefited from the boost in consumer spending that would result from lower prices.

For U.S. textiles and garment makers, the trade barriers are designed to protect the industry from low-priced imports, which have contributed to the loss of more than 465,000 jobs during the 1980s, according to industry figures.

In Los Angeles County, the garment industry is the seventh- or eighth-largest employer, with nearly 100,000 workers--often low-skilled laborers with few other occupational choices.

The ITC report found that after apparel and textiles, the biggest price drop, $3.09 billion, would come from removing restrictions that prohibit foreign ships from carrying domestic cargo between U.S. ports.

The report says removal of this restriction, contained in the 1920 Jones Act, would result in a loss of 11,905 jobs in ocean shipping, wiping out the so-called Jones Act fleet. The ITC said job losses would be offset by a gain of 12,790 jobs in related industries, such as dock workers who would benefit from increased volume as more goods were shipped by water because of lower shipping prices offered by foreign shippers.

For the most part, the study found much smaller job impacts for other protected industries. In addition to the estimated 6% loss of jobs in the apparel industry, the ITC estimated a job loss of 5.5% at textile fabric mills and a 1.9% loss in the shoe industry.