Textile industry leaders slam pro-China foreign trade bills' sponsors
06 Dec '06
3 min read
U.S. textile industry leaders called on congressional leadership to pull foreign trade legislation that will benefit China and other foreign producers at the expense of U.S. jobs. The offending legislation is expected to be contained in a package scheduled to be considered by the U.S. House later this week.
They also blasted the sponsors of the foreign trade bills for attempting to railroad these proposals through the House without adequately consulting industries affected like textiles.
At this time, the tax package potentially is to be combined with foreign trade provisions contained in H.R. 6142. This legislation would enable producers in Haiti and the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) countries to ship hundreds of millions of dollars worth of textile and apparel products to the United States duty-free using components sourced third-party countries like China.
Under current law, producers in those countries (with limited exceptions) must use their own or U.S.-made components to receive duty-free treatment.
Textile Industry Quotes on the Haiti/AGOA Legislation National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) President Cass Johnson said, “We strongly urge the congressional leadership to reject any backroom deal that will send U.S. jobs to foreign countries like China.
Noting that nearly three million U.S. manufacturing jobs have been lost since 2001, American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition (AMTAC) Executive Director Auggie Tantillo said, “Congress should reject these proposals because they will cost thousands of U.S. manufacturing jobs and drive up the foreign trade deficit."
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