WASHINGTON — Jim Leonard, the Commerce Department official who oversaw imposition of safeguard quotas on China last year, plans to step down later this month after more than four years as chairman of the interagency Committee of the Implementation of Textile Agreements.
Leonard, a veteran of the textile industry who worked for 34 years at Burlington Industries and is now part of Wilbur Ross’ International Textile Group, also will leave the post of deputy assistant secretary for textiles and apparel.
As CITA chairman, Leonard was responsible for implementing trade pacts negotiated by the office of the U.S. trade representative and took center stage in the apparel world last year when a surge in imports from China created tension between the two countries. Leonard imposed a series of safeguard quotas on China beginning in May of last year. The restrictions were a strong incentive for the country to ultimately agree to a limited system of quotas that lasts three years and covers 34 types of goods.
“The entire effort relative to the safeguards leading up to the agreement was certainly an incredibly intense time,” Leonard said in an interview Tuesday, also citing his office’s efforts to engage hosiery producers and industrial fabric firms as an important part of his tenure.
“The textile industry is still there,” he said. “Companies are doing things differently than they have in the past. We’d like to think that we’ve had a part in trying to get them more involved in exporting.”
Leonard will move back to Jamestown, N.C., and plans to work in the textile or trade area.
“I hope to stay involved,” he said. “I’m not the type to sit in a rocking chair.”