US textile executives focus on CAFTA-DR & other issues in roundtable

The roundtable discussion, hosted by the National Council of Textile Organisations (NCTO), was held at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina.

The executives also discussed advancing the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill and its importance to domestic manufacturers, upholding buy American and Berry Amendment government procurement policies, ensuring the administration is implementing the ‘Make PPE in America Act’ as intended, and the need to address larger systemic trade issues.

During the roundtable, executives showcased the industry’s innovation, advances in sustainable practices, and its important contribution to the North Carolina and the US economy, while raising several priority issues in Washington that have far-reaching implications for North Carolina and the entire US textile industry.

North Carolina is the second largest state employer of textile-related jobs with over 36,000 workers, and those jobs play a vital role in supporting 108,000 additional jobs throughout the state. At $2.7 billion, North Carolina is the largest textile-related exporting state in the US.

The US textile supply chain produced $65.2 billion in output in 2021 and employed nearly 535,000 workers. The industry has been at the forefront of domestic manufacturing of over 1 billion personal protective equipment (PPE) items during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ALCHEMPro News Desk (NB)