Since January 2001, US textile and apparel employment has fallen from 1,047,200 to 657,400 as of June 2005. The loss of 389,800 jobs represents 37.2 percent of the January 2001 workforce.
Textile safeguard petitions are filed with the Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA). CITA is a five-member interagency group comprising of representatives from the US Departments of Commerce, State, Labor and Treasury as well as the Office of the US Trade Representative. At least three agencies must vote to approve any safeguard petition.
Once a safeguard petition is filed, CITA has up to 15 working days to accept or reject the petition on its technical merits. If the petition is accepted, a 30-day public comment then commences, followed by a 60-day CITA decision-making window.
If CITA approves a safeguard petition, by terms of its WTO accession agreement with the United States, a consultation period then begins. If no agreement is reached between the parties, the United States can limit Chinese exports in the safeguard categories to 7.5 percent growth.
American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition
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