Trade court rules against sex-bias claim

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. trade court on Thursday rejected an importer's claim that differing tariff rates for men's gloves amounted to unconstitutional sex discrimination, in a case closely watched by the fashion industry.

The U.S. Court of International Trade dismissed a challenge to the tariffs by Totes-Isotoner Corp. The court said the importer had failed to show the government intended to discriminate by gender when it set tariffs for men's gloves that were higher than for gloves "for other persons."

"The tariff provisions at issue do not require that the imported goods be actually sold to or used by people of one sex or some age category," the ruling said.

It said the company must allege the differing tariffs disadvantage one sex as a whole, or disproportionately.

The case has been considered a test case for the fashion industry and other importers had been expected to press similar complaints if the Totes-Isotoner case was successful.

(Reporting by Randall Mikkelsen, editing by Todd Eastham)