WASHINGTON — Tariff and nontariff barriers continue to hamper U.S. textile and apparel firms’ ability to export, according to a report from the U.S. Trade Representative’s office Wednesday outlining trade barriers.
A number of obstacles impact U.S. apparel and textile trade with countries such as China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, Nigeria, Brazil, Argentina, Kenya and Thailand, according to the report. Issues range from increasing or consistently high tariff rates to licensing and customs concerns.
Despite some positive moves, China’s industrial policies and weak intellectual property regime continued to receive scrutiny. Clothing and footwear companies still find themselves among the most frequent targets for intellectual property violations.
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According to the report, China’s inadequate intellectual property enforcement displaces sales of legitimate goods and limits U.S. access to the Chinese market. Value-added taxes on textiles and apparel in China, a long-standing issue, continue to be a problem, the report said, and economic problems in 2008 led China to renew increases in VAT rates. China has raised VAT rebates seven times since July 2008, with the most recent bump for textiles and clothing in February 2009 pushing the rate to 15 percent, according to USTR.
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Tariff rates on textiles and apparel in India were also cited as problematic. USTR said the U.S. textile industry has ongoing concerns over a lack of transparency in India’s tariff and tax practices, although duties for some nonagricultural goods have fallen. The textile industry in India also receives subsidies from the government through modernization programs.
New import licensing requirements in Indonesia threw up troublesome barriers for footwear and textile companies. According to USTR, Indonesia unveiled a measure last year that requires importers to meet costly and time-consuming requirements to register goods prior to shipping them.
“The Obama administration is following through on its commitment to call out and break down barriers to American exports worldwide,” said USTR Ron Kirk. “This year we’ve gone beyond the obligatory reporting to focus on some of the toughest hurdles America’s farmers, ranchers, manufacturers and service providers face when they try and sell overseas.”
USTR submitted its annual trade barriers report to Congress along with two related reports detailing technical barriers to trade and agricultural hurdles.