WASHINGTON — Trying to shape a Bush administration plan to monitor and possibly self-initiate antidumping trade cases against Vietnam, importers have laid out their vision of how the program should work.
Importers taken by surprise when the program came to light in September are pressing for transparency and stressing that only the types of apparel made in the U.S. should be subject to monitoring and not apparel made in other countries using U.S. materials.
On the other hand, domestic textile groups, which support the program, are hoping it will help them protect their export business with apparel producers in Central America and elsewhere that ship finished goods back to the U.S. The domestic textile groups have said the program is important because they don’t have the standing to bring antidumping cases against apparel imports themselves.
The suggestions, backed by 15 importers, including Gap Inc. and Nike Inc., as well as six trade groups, came in official comments released late Wednesday to the Commerce Department, which requested feedback from the industry while creating the program.
Comments from the domestic textile industry were expected to be posted Thursday on the Commerce Department Web site but were not available at press time.
U.S. Trade Rep. Susan Schwab and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez committed to setting up the monitoring program in letters to Sens. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) and Elizabeth Dole (R., N.C.) in September. The creation of the program comes as Vietnam, after more than a decade of negotiations, is scheduled to become the World Trade Organization’s 150th member next month and a week after the country was granted permanent normal trade relations status.
“The importer community obviously takes this issue very seriously,” said Brenda Jacobs, counsel for the U.S. Association of Importers of Textiles & Apparel and one of the lawyers who prepared the comments. “[The program] marks a huge step backward from where we thought we’d be today. Vietnam joins the WTO and instead of liberalizing trade with them, we’re discriminating and making it more difficult to do business with them.”
Antidumping cases, if successful, impose duties that are meant to offset competition from foreign goods that are sold at unfairly low prices, mainly due to government subsidies. Domestic textile companies say they need protection from Vietnamese imports, while importers contend the program will hurt trade and increase costs.
Related Articles
You May Also Like
In their comments, importers also argued the Commerce Department lacks the legal authority to set up the program and that it is inconsistent with U.S. obligations as a member of the WTO.
Should the program go forward, importers recommended that only specific types of apparel, for instance women’s knit wool trousers, should be monitored instead of broader groups of products, such as all trousers. The firms also want the program to only cover products within the categories singled out in the letter to Dole and Graham, including trousers, shirts, underwear, swimwear and sweaters.
In addition, importers want U.S. producers of apparel to opt-in to the monitoring program for the products they make and want protected.