WASHINGTON — House members from textile-producing states are stepping up pressure on the Bush administration to levy quotas on low-priced apparel and textile imports from China that are flooding the U.S. market and increasing competitive pressures on the U.S. textile industry.
“We are making the strongest possible case,” said Rep. Robin Hayes (R., N.C.), in a Wednesday interview, of the need for the Bush administration to impose quotas against Chinese imports.
The tensions between the House Textile Caucus and the Bush administration over Chinese apparel and textile trade comes as President Bush is poised to send the Central American Free Trade Agreement to Congress for consideration. It faces an uphill battle.
There are blocs of House Republicans, including Textile Caucus members, joining a swath of Democrats who have said they will vote against CAFTA, largely based on concerns of duty-free trade’s uneven effects on U.S. industries. However, Republican textile-state lawmakers’ opposition is more focused because of CAFTA’s exceptions to a U.S. or Central American-only fabric rule for garments receiving duty-free treatment.
It’s difficult to weigh whether Bush administration action on China might persuade some GOP textile-state lawmakers to back CAFTA.
“All this is in play right now,” said Rep. Sue Myrick (R., N.C.), noting the textile industry also is divided over CAFTA, with yarn spinners such as Parkdale Mills of Gastonia, N.C., supporting the pact because they would be less affected by CAFTA’s fabric exceptions, and fabric makers such as Guilford Mills, Greensboro, N.C., opposing it. “In the next couple of weeks, we’ll have a much better feel of what’s going to happen, where the industry stands overall and what kind of agreements will be worked out” to secure Congressional support.
But for the moment, China’s mounting apparel and trade exports to the U.S. are in lawmakers’ sights.
For seven months, U.S. textile mills have been pressing the administration for temporary Chinese apparel and textile quotas, also called safeguards, which were provided in China’s agreement in 2000 to join the World Trade Organization. The issue of quotas is coming to a head on Capitol Hill following Friday’s release of January trade data, reflecting the first month for global apparel and textile trade to be unrestrained.
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According to the Commerce Department, in January, China’s already mounting apparel and textile exports to the U.S. jumped almost 22 percent against a year earlier, while shipments overall climbed 6.4 percent.
The surge in Chinese trade sparked a Wednesday meeting between staff members of House Textile Caucus lawmakers and U.S. textile industry association officials. Plans were made to call a meeting for early April with top Bush administration officials from Commerce, the State Department and U.S. Trade Representative’s Office. A letter also is being penned similar to one sent Tuesday to Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, in which Hayes wrote: “I urge you to use the only tool we have to combat China’s massive textile and apparel import surges and self-initiate safeguard actions against China. China took a 35 percent share of the U.S. import market for textiles and a 22 percent share for apparel [in January]. Total Chinese share of the U.S. import market was 29 percent, the highest share of any single country in history.”
People who attended Wednesday’s caucus meeting said discussion also centered on the Bush administration’s lack of action on imposing quotas on Vietnam’s ballooning apparel exports to the U.S. The caucus in December asked the administration for broader restraints. Vietnamese apparel and textile exports are still under quota controls because the country is not a WTO member.
In January, textile products from Vietnam increased 42 percent and apparel export growth was 9 percent, but in some apparel categories, growth was stronger, like a 38 percent gain in shipments of man-made fiber apparel.
The issue of CAFTA wasn’t raised at the caucus meeting, but Auggie Tantillo, executive director of the American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition, said it’s too early to tell which way Congress will go. The President before Memorial Day is expected to send CAFTA to Capitol Hill and lawmakers would have 90 days to consider the agreement, which covers Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala as well as the Caribbean nation of the Dominican Republic.
Julia Hughes, vice president of international trade with the U.S. Association of Importers of Textiles & Apparel, said she expects CAFTA to clear Congress. She questioned whether GOP textile lawmaker opposition could derail the pact, since the industry is divided over the agreement.