"At this juncture, we strongly believe that USTR cannot meet the objectives contained in the Trade Act of 2002 without a special sectoral for textiles and apparel in the WTO's non-agricultural market access (NAMA) talks.
Absent a sectoral, foreign exporters will receive greater competitive opportunities in the U.S. market than the U.S. textile industry will receive in foreign markets under the general formula of proposed tariff cuts.
Such an outcome then will result in less than full reciprocity, violating the objectives contained in the Trade Act of 2002" the associations continued.
"The U.S. textile industry will continue to work with Congressman Goode and our other friends in Congress to make sure that the U.S. government does not bring back any Doha agreement without first succeeding in meeting with the negotiating objectives included in the Trade Act of 2002," the associations concluded.
On June 13th, 44 members of Congress sent USTR Ambassador Susan Schwab a letter demanding that textiles be negotiated in separate sectoral in the Doha Round of trade talks.
American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition
marketing@alchempro.com
