CAFTA to worsen the situation, opines Bruce Raynor of UNITE HERE
16 Jul '05
1 min read
Statement by Bruce Raynor, General President (GP) of UNITE HERE, about President Bush's trip to North Carolina to generate support for CAFTA.
Going to North Carolina to tout the virtues of CAFTA, like President Bush is doing today, is like a visiting a henhouse and peddling the merits of a fox.
CAFTA is based on NAFTA and since NAFTA North Carolina has lost 235,600 manufacturing jobs and 163,700 apparel and textile jobs. Since 2001 nearly 400 apparel and textile establishments have closed in North Carolina.
CAFTA will make this situation much worse. Currently, textiles and clothing imported from CAFTA countries must be manufactured with U.S. components to receive duty-free treatment. This will not be the case if CAFTA passes.
There is no requirement to use U.S. yarn or fabric as any product wholly manufactured in a CAFTA country will receive duty free treatment. And there are numerous loopholes in CAFTA designed to benefit producers in countries such as China and Mexico at the expense of U.S. producers. These loopholes jeopardize thousands of jobs in North Carolina.
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