WASHINGTON, DC – National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) Senior Vice President Sara Beatty is testifying this afternoon on Panel 6 at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative’s hearing on the Trump administration’s proposed Section 301 tariffs on $200 billion in imports from China.
Beatty’s statement as prepared for delivery is included at the bottom of this release and it reiterates NCTO’s 24-page public comments and testimony from earlier this year that the following products be prioritized on the China 301 retaliation list:
- finished apparel that tracks with product being sourced from U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) partners,
- textile-based home furnishings and other end items, and
- advanced technical textile products.
NCTO is a Washington, DC-based trade association that represents domestic textile manufacturers, including artificial and synthetic filament and fiber producers.
- U.S. employment in the textile supply chain was 550,500 in 2017.
- The value of shipments for U.S. textiles and apparel was $77.9 billion in 2017.
- U.S. exports of fiber, textiles and apparel were $28.6 billion in 2017.
- Capital expenditures for textile and apparel production totaled $2.4 billion in 2016, the last year for which data is available.
Sara Beatty, Senior Vice President, National Council of Textile Organizations
China 301 IPR Hearing
Panel 6, August 20, 2018
Remarks as Prepared for Delivery
My name is Sara Beatty, and I am the Senior Vice President of the National Council of Textile Organizations. Thank you for the opportunity to appear today.
NCTO represents the full spectrum of the U.S. textile sector, from fiber through finished sewn products. As we have consistently voiced throughout this process, NCTO steadfastly supports the President’s pursuit of a Section 301 case to address China’s rampant intellectual property (IP) abuses.
Importance of Covering End Items
In NCTO’s previous testimony and public comments, we documented the severely damaging effects of China’s IP theft and related abuses on U.S. textile and apparel manufacturers and our views on how best to address the problem in our sector. To summarize, it remains our recommendation that priority should be placed on covering the following products on the retaliation list:
- finished apparel that tracks with product being sourced from U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) partners,
- textile-based home furnishings and other end items, and
- advanced technical textile products.
While products in Chapters 50-60 covering textile fibers, yarns and fabrics are on the subject $200 billion list, finished apparel and other sewn products in Chapters 61-63 are again absent. The U.S. textile industry is disappointed by this repeated omission and asks that USTR consider the following:
First, finished apparel, home furnishings and other made-up textile goods equate to 93.5 percent of U.S. imports from China in our sector, while fiber, yarn and fabric imports from China represent only 6.5 percent. Given that apparel and other sewn products made in China almost always contain Chinese inputs, a significantly greater value of fibers, yarns and fabrics made in China enter the U.S. market in the form of Chinese-made downstream finished products than at the input stage.
Noting textiles have been identified as a key industry under the Made in China 2025 plan and Chinese-made textiles gain significant competitive advantages in the U.S. market through intellectual property theft, NCTO agrees that textiles should be part of the administration’s 301 strategy. It is also why, however, NCTO continues to stress that the most logical and effective way to target China’s predatory trade practices in our sector is to address their primary means of disrupting our market, exports of end items to the United States.
Most of China’s 10 million direct textile and apparel jobs are concentrated at the final steps of the supply chain, the highly labor-intensive cutting and sewing operations. As such, imposing tariffs on end items would maximize U.S. leverage in bringing China to make meaningful reforms.
Further, the importance of targeting finished products on the retaliation list is not only derived from the fact that China predominantly ships end items versus intermediate inputs, but also because end item imports most directly and negatively impact U.S. textile and apparel production, investment and jobs. China’s apparel and other textile-based end items compete head to head with like Western Hemisphere products that typically are made from U.S. fibers, yarns and fabrics.
By the time a pair of Chinese blue jeans arrives in the U.S. market, they have benefited from China’s illegal trade practices at every stage in the production chain, allowing them to displace other products in the market. The pre-duty unit cost of a pair of jeans is $7.50 imported from China compared to $8.29 from our Western Hemisphere free trade partners. A 25% additional tariff adds $1.88 to China’s price, providing a considerable incentive to shift sourcing from China to duty-free sources in the Western Hemisphere.
NCTO is convinced that the Trump administration’s Section 301 tariffs would be far more effective if Chinese apparel and related end products were included on the 301 list because that would benefit the entire U.S. textile and apparel supply chain and address the root issue.
Textile and Related Products on the $200 Billion List
With the inclusion of virtually all fiber, yarn and fabric tariff lines on the $200 billion list, NCTO is finalizing feedback on a line-by-line basis that identifies products where the U.S. textile industry would be negatively impacted by additional tariffs of 10%, or up to 25%, on product from China. A number of our member companies are also filing comments speaking to their unique circumstances. Given that these are largely intermediate-stage manufacturing inputs, additional duties on products imported from China for further processing can be counterproductive in instances where there is no U.S. production and China is one of a limited number of import sources.
As this type of detailed information cannot be adequately conveyed in testimony form, NCTO will be submitting supplementary public comments. However, acrylic and rayon staple fibers serve as good examples of products that NCTO recommends be removed from the 301 list to avoid undue harm to U.S. manufacturers. These fibers are not produced in the United States and their unavailability is reflected in the rules of origin of our more recent free trade agreements as well as in the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB) pending in Congress.
Raising the production costs for these inputs will only undercut U.S. competitiveness for manufacturers that utilize them without bolstering U.S. producers, of which none exist. Further, yarn and fabric producers in China and other countries will not face these added costs, thus simultaneously placing U.S. producers at a significant disadvantage while providing a loophole for Chinese fibers to enter the U.S. market in the form of a downstream product.
Beyond the traditional textile chapters, NCTO recommends removal of certain chemicals, dyes and finishes that are integral to the textile manufacturing process and create value add in U.S. products. Our members report that many of these products are largely unavailable from U.S. sources, particularly in the quantities consumed, and thus the increased raw material costs will damage downstream domestic manufacturing competitiveness. Again, a list of specific tariff lines will be provided.
Last, we are concerned that while textile machinery was largely removed from the initial $50 billion list, additional lines have been proposed on this list. NCTO continues to strongly recommend the removal of all machinery-related items as U.S. textile companies are almost entirely dependent on imports to equip their factories.
Thank you again for the opportunity to appear today. NCTO looks forward to working with the Trump administration on ways to maximize the benefit of Section 301 tariffs to American industry and workers, and I would be pleased to answer any questions.
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NCTO Advisory to the Trade — February 7, 2019
/in NCTO Advisory to the Trade /by David TrumbullU.S. Section 301 Tariffs on Goods of Chinese Origin
U.S. Section 301 Tariffs on Goods of Chinese Origin
Background
On August 14, 2017, the President issued a Memorandum instructing the Trade Representative to determine whether to investigate under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 laws, policies, practices, or actions of the Government of China that may be unreasonable or discriminatory and that may be harming American intellectual property rights, innovation, or technology development.
NCTO supports the ongoing Trump administration’s Section 301 case against China’s intellectual property abuses, testifying on and submitting written comments documenting the damaging effects of China’s IP theft on U.S. textile manufacturers. In doing so, NCTO advised placing tariffs on finished products, such as apparel and home furnishings, which would bring greater benefit to the North American textile supply chain. NCTO was also successful in removing products such as rayon fibers and most textile machinery, while continuing to push for an exclusion process for items not available domestically.
The United States and China are currently in high-level negotiations to determine if a settlement can be reached to resolve the 301 IPR case. March 1, 2019 is the target date set by the Trump administration to reach a negotiated settlement.
So far three tranches of tariffs have been imposed. Below, in reverse chronological order, are the three tranches.
Tranche Three
On September 17, 2018, (just 12 days after the close of the September 6, 2018, comment period, and just two days after the transcript of the hearing was made available on regulations.com) USTR announced the final Tranche Three list of 5,745 full or partial lines of the original 6,031 tariff lines as the final Tranche Three list with 10% additional tariff to be imposed starting September 24, 2018. They fully or partially removed 297 tariff lines from the original proposed list. Included among the products removed from the proposed list are certain consumer electronics products such as smart watches and Bluetooth devices; certain chemical inputs for manufactured goods, textiles and agriculture; certain health and safety products such as bicycle helmets, and child safety furniture such as car seats and playpens.
Starting January 1, 2019, the level of the additional tariff was to increase to 25%. On December 3, 2018, the President announced that the tariffs would not increase on January 1st and stay at 10% while the U.S. and China negotiated. If no agreement is reached, they will go to 25% on March 2, 2019.
Tranche Three is of special interest to NCTO member because, unlike the earlier lists, it included textiles. The entirety of Chapters 50 through 60 of the tariff schedule was proposed, and eighteen 8-digit tariff lines in the textile chapters were removed from the finalized list that went into effect. That means that virtually all textile fibers, yarns, fabrics, and carpets were included in this action.
NCTO applauds the Trump Administration for including textile articles from China that are unfairly traded in contravention of China’s WTO commitments. However, there has been some unintended collateral damage. For a very limited number of early-stage processing textile inputs China is the sole source. Some of these textile inputs are ones for which NCTO members successfully petitioned for duty suspension, under the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill, only to find the duty suspension offset by the Section 301 tariffs. It is also important to note that apparel and most other textile products (Chapters 61 through 63 of the tariff schedule), which NCTO advocated should be on the list, are not subject to Section 301 tariffs. Reports of apparel retailers or consumers being affected directly by these tariffs are fake news.
Tranche Two
On August 8, 2018, USTR announced a list containing 279 of the original 284 tariff lines that were on a proposed list subject to 25% additional tariffs. These went into effect August 23. For companies with articles on that list there was an opportunity to file for an exclusion. So far no Tranche Two exclusion requests have been processed, due the backlog of Tranche One exclusion requests.
Tranche One
On April 3, 2018, USTR released a proposal to place an additional 25% import duty on products covered by 1,333 tariff classifications. Interested persons filed approximately 3,200 written submissions. In addition, USTR and the Section 301 Committee convened a three-day public hearing. The result was that 515 items were removed from the list. For companies with inputs on this list there was an opportunity to file for exclusions. The very large number of exclusion requests filed, 10,828, has meant that processing exclusions is taking a long time. As of January 30, 2019, 999 had been granted and 2,498 had been denied. Of the remaining request, 2,179 are at “Stage 3,” meaning they have passed the Initial Substantive Review of whether the exclusion request should be granted, and now USTR is consulting with Customs to determine whether an exclusion would be administrable. It can reasonably be assumed that many of the requests that have made it through to Stage 3 will likely be approved.
U.S. Section 301 Tariffs on Goods of Chinese Origin
NCTO Announces Retirement of President & CEO Auggie Tantillo
/in Press Releases, Recent News /by nctoWASHINGTON, DC – Augustine “Auggie” D. Tantillo, President & CEO of the National Council of Textile Organizations, has announced his intention to retire from his position later this year. Tantillo has enjoyed a 38-year, multifaceted career in the Washington policy arena, most of which involved direct representation of the U.S. textile industry.
NCTO Chairman Marty Moran stated, “Due to his vast institutional knowledge and skill in navigating policy matters in Washington, Auggie will certainly be missed. On behalf of our entire membership, I want to express our gratitude to Auggie for his dedicated and important service to our industry,” Moran added.
Tantillo stated, “It has been a tremendous privilege to represent an industry that has made such an enormous contribution to the U.S. economy and the U.S. workforce. I will always be grateful for the confidence that the domestic textile sector has shown in me as the head of this important organization.”
In the spring of last year, NCTO formed a search committee to undertake the process of selecting a replacement for Tantillo. After vetting numerous highly-qualified individuals and conducting a thorough interview process with leading candidates, the organization intends to make a public announcement on Tantillo’ s replacement in the coming weeks.
Tantillo has worked in government service or government relations in Washington, D.C. since 1981. Prior to joining NCTO, he served as Executive Director of the American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition, a trade association dedicated to furthering the interests of U.S. manufacturing, particularly with respect to textiles. At earlier points in his career, Tantillo was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Textiles & Apparel at the U.S. Department of Commerce under President George H. W. Bush, and Chief of Staff to U. S. Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina. Tantillo earned a B.S. in Agricultural Economics from Clemson University.
NCTO is a Washington, DC-based trade association that represents domestic textile manufacturers, including artificial and synthetic filament and fiber producers.
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NCTO Endorses USMCA; Pledges to Lobby Congress to Adopt the Agreement
/in Press Releases, Recent News /by nctoWASHINGTON, DC – The National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) board of directors has voted to endorse the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). The United States, Canada and Mexico signed the USMCA on November 30.
“On behalf of the U.S. textile industry, thank you to President Trump, Ambassador Lighthizer and the entire U.S. negotiating team for your hard work in getting USMCA done,” said NCTO Chairman Marty Moran, CEO of Jefferson, GA-based Buhler Quality Yarns Corp.
“The new deal is better than NAFTA for the U.S. textile industry in many aspects and NCTO is pleased to endorse it,” Moran added.
“NCTO was in continuous communication with U.S. negotiators during USMCA talks, urging them to preserve and enhance the North American textile supply chain, and the deal reflects many of NCTO’s priorities,” Moran finished as he noted U.S. textile-related exports to Canada and Mexico totaled a combined $11.8 billion in 2017.
“NCTO will begin educating Congress immediately on how USMCA is an improvement over NAFTA and assuming any implementing legislation is restricted to the terms of the agreement as negotiated, we will press for its passage in early 2019,” said NCTO President & CEO Auggie Tantillo
USMCA improvements over NAFTA include:
· A standalone chapter for textile and apparel; NAFTA does not have a separate chapter covering textile and apparel rules of origin
· Stronger rules of origin for sewing thread, pocketing, narrow elastics and certain coated fabrics
· Fixing the Kissell Amendment loophole
· Stronger rules for customs enforcement
The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) held a public hearing on November 15-16 in Washington, D.C. as part of its investigation of the likely impact of the USMCA on the U.S. economy. Tantillo testified on Panel 4, General Manufacturing, on Friday, November 16, the hearing’s second day, in more detail about how USMCA is an improvement to NAFTA.
NCTO is a Washington, DC-based trade association that represents domestic textile manufacturers, including artificial and synthetic filament and fiber producers.
· U.S. employment in the textile supply chain was 550,500 in 2017.
· The value of shipments for U.S. textiles and apparel was $77.9 billion in 2017.
· U.S. exports of fiber, textiles and apparel were $28.6 billion in 2017.
· Capital expenditures for textile and apparel production totaled $2.4 billion in 2016, the last year for which data is available.
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NCTO Testifies at U.S. International Trade Committee Hearing on USMCA
/in Press Releases, Recent News, Testimony and Statements /by nctoWASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) held a public hearing on November 15-16 in Washington, D.C. as part of its investigation of the likely impact of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) on the U.S. economy.
National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) President & CEO Auggie Tantillo testified on Panel 4, General Manufacturing, on Friday, November 16, the hearing’s second day.
Tantillo’s testimony as prepared for delivery is below:
Testimony of Auggie Tantillo, President and CEO
National Council of Textile Organizations
U.S. International Trade Commission Hearing on the
United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement
November 16, 2018
On behalf of the National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO), thank you for the opportunity to provide input regarding the recently negotiated United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). NCTO represents the full spectrum of the U.S. textile sector, from fibers to yarns to fabrics to finished products, as well as suppliers of machinery, chemicals, and other products and services with a stake in the prosperity of our industry. The entire U.S textile manufacturing chain, from fiber through finished sewn products, employs 550,000 workers nationwide. In 2017, the industry manufactured nearly $78 billion in output, while exporting more than $28 billion of our production.
I want to preface my remarks by stating that NCTO has not yet adopted a formal position on USMCA. We have produced a detailed internal analysis on the agreement for our members and have solicited their feedback. Once we have reviewed input from our membership, the NCTO Board will come to final position that we will then make public.
With that said, it is important to note that the United States, Canada, and Mexico have built a vibrant and prosperous textile production chain over the 24-year life of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). In 2017, total textile and apparel trade between the three countries was approximately $20 billion. U.S. exports accounted for more than $11 billion of this trade, with Canada and Mexico serving as our two largest export markets worldwide.
These figures compare to just $7 billion in textile trade between the three countries in 1993, the year prior to NAFTA’s implementation. An understanding of this data validates that the current, yarn-forward structure embedded in NAFTA has been highly successful, providing significant benefit to North American manufacturers throughout the entire textile production chain.
It is for this reason that NCTO is very pleased that the basic textile origin rules adopted originally in NAFTA were essentially reaffirmed in USMCA. Further, we commend the three governments for creating a separate textile chapter in the new agreement as opposed to relegating textiles to an annex of the broader market access provisions. A stand-alone chapter recognizes the sensitivities associated with trade in this sector and allows for unique provisions, such as separate and enhanced customs enforcement language over the original NAFTA. Enforcement is critical in the textile sector as the lucrative duty-free benefits create enormous incentives for fraud.
In terms of changes to the original text, NCTO is very supportive of revisions that will require the use of USMCA-origin sewing thread, pocketing, narrow elastics, and coated fabrics in certain end items. While there are transition periods associated with these new requirements, their ultimate inclusion should offer a boost for U.S. producers formerly left out of the origin rules in the original NAFTA. We estimate the USMCA market to be $250 million annually for sewing thread for apparel applications and $70 million annually for pocketing.
We are also appreciative of a key change made in the Government Procurement Chapter of USMCA regarding the Kissell Amendment, which is a Buy American statute for textiles that applies to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Kissell requires 100% U.S. content, with very limited exceptions, for purchases by the Coast Guard and Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
Regarding TSA procurement, Kissell has a problematic loophole tied to NAFTA that has allowed Mexico to supply these contracts. As a result, under the terms of NAFTA, Mexico can supply TSA uniforms made from Mexican fiber, yarn, and/or fabric. The TSA Mexico loophole translates to a significant weakening of U.S. Buy American statutes. Noting that DHS spent $34 million on clothing and textiles for TSA in FY2017, closing the Kissell loophole was a substantive change from NCTO’s perspective.
While all the items mentioned to this point are clear improvements to the original NAFTA, there was one key area of disappointment, from our perspective, with USMCA. NAFTA incorporated a major exemption to the yarn-forward origin requirement through a system of Tariff Preference Levels (TPLs). TPLs allow products to be shipped duty free among free trade partner countries even though the components within the product are sourced from countries that are not signatories to the agreement.
While NAFTA TPLs have annual limits that cap their impact to a degree, more than $641 million in textile and apparel TPL shipments entered the U.S. last year. As such, eliminating the TPLs was a primary focus of NCTO’s in the NAFTA renegotiation. While USMCA did reduce the size of some specific TPLs, the reductions will not cut into existing trade levels. This outcome is frustrating given the President’s stated goals of increasing benefits for U.S. manufacturers and eliminating provisions that have helped non-signatory countries, such as China, take advantage of tariff preferences intended for North American producers.
Conclusion
As stated earlier, NCTO is not yet in a position to communicate a formal position on USMCA. We hope to have a decision finalized soon, which will be shared with both the Administration and Congress as soon as we complete our review process.
Nonetheless, it is accurate to state that in an overarching fashion, the new agreement is an improvement over the original NAFTA in many areas. This is certainly the case for U.S. manufacturers of component parts such as thread, pocketing, narrow elastics, and coated fabrics. There is also a clear victory on the Kissell amendment and a strong upgrade in customs enforcement. With our strong disappointment in the TPL outcome noted, we are also grateful for the Administration’s willingness to work with domestic manufacturers in an effort to improve this important agreement.
Thank you for this opportunity to provide input, and I would be pleased to answer any questions that you may have at this time.
[NCTO testimony as prepared for delivery ends]
NCTO is a Washington, DC-based trade association that represents domestic textile manufacturers, including artificial and synthetic filament and fiber producers.
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Large Gift to North Carolina State University’s Textile School Will Help Mold Next Generation of U.S. Textile Leaders and Innovators
/in Press Releases, Recent News /by nctoWASHINGTON, DC – Thanks to a $28 million gift from alumnus Frederick “Fred” Eugene Wilson Jr. and his family, North Carolina State University’s College of Textiles henceforth will be known as the Wilson College of Textiles. A world leader in textile research, the Wilson College of Textiles is the only standalone textile college in the United States.
“Thank you so very much to the Wilson family. This gift is significant for the U.S. textile industry,” said National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) Chairman Marty Moran, CEO of Buhler Quality Yarns Corporation and a holder of a degree in textile management from North Carolina State University.
“As a fellow alumnus I’m proud and grateful to the Wilson family for giving back so selflessly to help others. As the CEO of a textile company and as chairman of the largest Washington, DC-based trade association representing U.S. textiles, I’m excited because this gift will help mold the next generation of leaders and innovators,” Moran added as he noted more than fifty companies participated in the Wilson College of Textiles career fair on September 26.
“The Wilson family’s donation will benefit not just North Carolinians, but the entire U.S. textile supply chain,” stressed Moran as he explained NCTO and its member companies often work closely with Wilson College of Textiles faculty and students on everything from solving technical problems to innovating and manufacturing the fibers, yarns and fabrics of tomorrow.
NCTO President and CEO Auggie Tantillo said, “On behalf of NCTO’s entire membership, I want to express appreciation to the Wilson family for their very generous gift. Further, we are grateful to the Wilson College of Textiles for their continued dedication and invaluable contribution to the U.S. textile industry.”
NCTO is a Washington, DC-based trade association that represents domestic textile manufacturers, including artificial and synthetic filament and fiber producers.
· U.S. employment in the textile supply chain was 550,500 in 2017.
· The value of shipments for U.S. textiles and apparel was $77.9 billion in 2017.
· U.S. exports of fiber, textiles and apparel were $28.6 billion in 2017.
· Capital expenditures for textile and apparel production totaled $2.4 billion in 2016, the last year for which data is available.
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NCTO Welcomes United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement Announcement
/in Press Releases, Recent News /by nctoWASHINGTON, DC – The United States, Mexico and Canada have concluded negotiations on a trade agreement to replace NAFTA. The text of the deal, now referred to as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, was released by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative last night.
“The U.S. textile industry is pleased the United States, Mexico and Canada have reached an agreement because Canada and Mexico are its largest trading partners,” said National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) President & CEO Auggie Tantillo as he noted that products from the textile and apparel supply chain accounted for nearly $12 billion in U.S. exports to Canada and Mexico in 2017.
“Unlike the original NAFTA, the new agreement includes a separate textile and apparel chapter. This outcome is a tangible recognition by all three parties of the importance of textile manufacturing to the regional economy,” Tantillo added as he explained that NCTO would not be making any further comment with respect to the deal until the substance of the agreement could be carefully analyzed by NCTO.
NCTO is a Washington, DC-based trade association that represents domestic textile manufacturers, including artificial and synthetic filament and fiber producers.
· U.S. employment in the textile supply chain was 550,500 in 2017.
· The value of shipments for U.S. textiles and apparel was $77.9 billion in 2017.
· U.S. exports of fiber, textiles and apparel were $28.6 billion in 2017.
· Capital expenditures for textile and apparel production totaled $2.4 billion in 2016, the last year for which data is available.
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President Trump Announces Intention to Appoint NCTO Vice Chairman Don Bockoven to the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations
/in Press Releases /by nctoWASHINGTON, DC – On September 25, President Trump announced his intention to appoint 2018-19 National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) Vice Chairman Don Bockoven to the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations (ACTPN) for a four-year term. Bockoven is the President & CEO of Leigh Fibers and ICE Recycling, companies based in Wellford and Lake City, South Carolina respectively.
“NCTO is very appreciative of this announcement. Don Bockoven is highly respected leader in the U.S. textile sector,” said NCTO President & CEO Auggie Tantillo as he thanked President Trump for his appointment of Bockoven to the ACTPN on behalf of the U.S. textile industry.
“Because the textile supply chain from fiber production to finished apparel and sewn products is very trade-sensitive, the U.S. textile industry is grateful for the opportunity to have a voice in formulating America’s trade policy,” Tantillo added, noting that nearly 40 percent of duties collected by the U.S. government are on textile-related goods.
The ACTPN is appointed by the President of the United States and is the principal trade advisory committee which provides overall policy advice on trade matters to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). Established by Congress under the Trade Act of 1974, the committee provides information and advice with respect to U.S. negotiating objectives and bargaining positions before entering into trade agreements, on the operation of any trade agreement once entered into, and on other matters arising in connection with U.S. trade policy. The ACTPN considers trade policy issues in the context of the overall national interest.
Leigh Fibers maintains over a million square feet of space dedicated to fiber reprocessing, research and development, quality control, warehousing and administration and is capable of handling over 350 million pounds of recycled fiber annually.
ICE Recycling custom designs plans for businesses to divert their waste products away from landfills, specializing in carbon footprint reduction, bailing, grinding and packaging of recyclable materials for repurposing in future manufacturing projects.
NCTO is a Washington, DC-based trade association that represents domestic textile manufacturers, including artificial and synthetic filament and fiber producers.
· U.S. employment in the textile supply chain was 550,500 in 2017.
· The value of shipments for U.S. textiles and apparel was $77.9 billion in 2017.
· U.S. exports of fiber, textiles and apparel were $28.6 billion in 2017.
· Capital expenditures for textile and apparel production totaled $2.4 billion in 2016, the last year for which data is available.
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NCTO Welcomes the Official Launch of the Rhode Island Textile Innovation Network
/in Press Releases, Recent News /by nctoWASHINGTON, DC – The National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) congratulates the state of Rhode Island and its textile and apparel industry for the official launch of the Rhode Island Textile Innovation Network (RITIN). The Slater Mill Museum in Pawtucket was the site of the event.
At the launch, RITIN unveiled its new website and held an expo featuring local manufacturers. The activities dovetailed with NCTO’s We Make Amazing campaign promoting the U.S. textile industry, namely that Rhode Island’s textile industry is involved in research, development, design and manufacturing of an incredible array of end products and providing career opportunities with on-the-job training and advancement.
“Rhode Island companies make some of the world’s most amazing textiles and are an important cog in the U.S. textile and apparel supply chain, especially with respect to innovating and manufacturing textiles used by America’s military,” said NCTO President & CEO Auggie Tantillo.
Welcoming the official launch of RITIN, Tantillo added, “Thanks to e-commerce and other emerging technologies, the global textile and apparel sector is experiencing an era of rapid change. Rhode Island is to be commended for being proactive in helping to ensure that its industry remains at the forefront in leveraging those changes to America’s benefit,” Tantillo added.
RITIN fosters collaboration among textile industry leaders, designers, academia and government with a mission to make Rhode Island a leader in advanced textile manufacturing and to develop solutions to recruit and train the sector’s future workforce.
Created in late 2016 by U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and the University of Rhode Island Business Engagement Center, RITIN operates with planning grants received in late 2017 from Real Jobs RI and the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation. Polaris MEP, an affiliate of the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NIST MEP) provides RITIN’s program management.
NCTO is a Washington, DC-based trade association that represents domestic textile manufacturers, including artificial and synthetic filament and fiber producers.
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NCTO Applauds Continued IPR Enforcement Efforts; Renews Request for Added Tariffs on Chinese Textile and Apparel End Items
/in Press Releases /by nctoWASHINGTON, DC – The National Council of Textile Organization’s (NCTO) applauds the Trump administration’s September 17 Section 301 tariff announcement as necessary to resolve longstanding trade inequities with China. NCTO, however, strongly believes that the administration’s continued focus on added tariffs on upstream textile inputs while thus far refusing to impose tariffs on finished Chinese textile home furnishing and apparel is flawed.
“The Trump administration is right to confront China’s unfair trade practices. Section 301 tariffs show the world that countries which serially abuse U.S. intellectual property rights (IPR) will be held accountable,” said NCTO President & CEO Auggie Tantillo.
“NCTO also thanks the Trump administration for removing various items from the latest retaliation list, including rayon fiber and certain dyes and chemicals. The U.S. textile industry requested the exclusion of these products because they are not available domestically and China is the only significant source of supply,” Tantillo continued.
“Had U.S. textile manufacturers been forced to pay higher duties on the excluded items, it would raise costs for manufacturers making goods that must compete with like Chinese products,” Tantillo added.
“Despite yesterday’s announcement, the U.S. textile industry remains of the belief that the administration’s strategy to impose Section 301 tariffs on inputs is not the most effective approach to penalize China for its rampant abuses of intellectual property rights in our sector,” Tantillo said.
“Added tariffs on finished Chinese textile home furnishings and apparel is the most effective sanction the United States could impose on China because like products from the NAFTA and CAFTA regions using U.S.-made textile inputs immediately become more competitive, thereby incentivizing the reshoring textile manufacturing jobs,” Tantillo explained as he referred to NCTO’s public comments filed on May 11 requesting Section 301 tariffs on Chinese textile and apparel end products.
NCTO is a Washington, DC-based trade association that represents domestic textile manufacturers, including artificial and synthetic filament and fiber producers.
· U.S. employment in the textile supply chain was 550,500 in 2017.
· The value of shipments for U.S. textiles and apparel was $77.9 billion in 2017.
· U.S. exports of fiber, textiles and apparel were $28.6 billion in 2017.
· Capital expenditures for textile and apparel production totaled $2.4 billion in 2016, the last year for which data is available.
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NCTO Renews Call for Tariffs on Textile and Apparel End Items at USTR China 301 Hearing
/in Press Releases /by nctoWASHINGTON, DC – National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) Senior Vice President Sara Beatty is testifying this afternoon on Panel 6 at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative’s hearing on the Trump administration’s proposed Section 301 tariffs on $200 billion in imports from China.
Beatty’s statement as prepared for delivery is included at the bottom of this release and it reiterates NCTO’s 24-page public comments and testimony from earlier this year that the following products be prioritized on the China 301 retaliation list:
NCTO is a Washington, DC-based trade association that represents domestic textile manufacturers, including artificial and synthetic filament and fiber producers.
Sara Beatty, Senior Vice President, National Council of Textile Organizations
China 301 IPR Hearing
Panel 6, August 20, 2018
Remarks as Prepared for Delivery
My name is Sara Beatty, and I am the Senior Vice President of the National Council of Textile Organizations. Thank you for the opportunity to appear today.
NCTO represents the full spectrum of the U.S. textile sector, from fiber through finished sewn products. As we have consistently voiced throughout this process, NCTO steadfastly supports the President’s pursuit of a Section 301 case to address China’s rampant intellectual property (IP) abuses.
Importance of Covering End Items
In NCTO’s previous testimony and public comments, we documented the severely damaging effects of China’s IP theft and related abuses on U.S. textile and apparel manufacturers and our views on how best to address the problem in our sector. To summarize, it remains our recommendation that priority should be placed on covering the following products on the retaliation list:
While products in Chapters 50-60 covering textile fibers, yarns and fabrics are on the subject $200 billion list, finished apparel and other sewn products in Chapters 61-63 are again absent. The U.S. textile industry is disappointed by this repeated omission and asks that USTR consider the following:
First, finished apparel, home furnishings and other made-up textile goods equate to 93.5 percent of U.S. imports from China in our sector, while fiber, yarn and fabric imports from China represent only 6.5 percent. Given that apparel and other sewn products made in China almost always contain Chinese inputs, a significantly greater value of fibers, yarns and fabrics made in China enter the U.S. market in the form of Chinese-made downstream finished products than at the input stage.
Noting textiles have been identified as a key industry under the Made in China 2025 plan and Chinese-made textiles gain significant competitive advantages in the U.S. market through intellectual property theft, NCTO agrees that textiles should be part of the administration’s 301 strategy. It is also why, however, NCTO continues to stress that the most logical and effective way to target China’s predatory trade practices in our sector is to address their primary means of disrupting our market, exports of end items to the United States.
Most of China’s 10 million direct textile and apparel jobs are concentrated at the final steps of the supply chain, the highly labor-intensive cutting and sewing operations. As such, imposing tariffs on end items would maximize U.S. leverage in bringing China to make meaningful reforms.
Further, the importance of targeting finished products on the retaliation list is not only derived from the fact that China predominantly ships end items versus intermediate inputs, but also because end item imports most directly and negatively impact U.S. textile and apparel production, investment and jobs. China’s apparel and other textile-based end items compete head to head with like Western Hemisphere products that typically are made from U.S. fibers, yarns and fabrics.
By the time a pair of Chinese blue jeans arrives in the U.S. market, they have benefited from China’s illegal trade practices at every stage in the production chain, allowing them to displace other products in the market. The pre-duty unit cost of a pair of jeans is $7.50 imported from China compared to $8.29 from our Western Hemisphere free trade partners. A 25% additional tariff adds $1.88 to China’s price, providing a considerable incentive to shift sourcing from China to duty-free sources in the Western Hemisphere.
NCTO is convinced that the Trump administration’s Section 301 tariffs would be far more effective if Chinese apparel and related end products were included on the 301 list because that would benefit the entire U.S. textile and apparel supply chain and address the root issue.
Textile and Related Products on the $200 Billion List
With the inclusion of virtually all fiber, yarn and fabric tariff lines on the $200 billion list, NCTO is finalizing feedback on a line-by-line basis that identifies products where the U.S. textile industry would be negatively impacted by additional tariffs of 10%, or up to 25%, on product from China. A number of our member companies are also filing comments speaking to their unique circumstances. Given that these are largely intermediate-stage manufacturing inputs, additional duties on products imported from China for further processing can be counterproductive in instances where there is no U.S. production and China is one of a limited number of import sources.
As this type of detailed information cannot be adequately conveyed in testimony form, NCTO will be submitting supplementary public comments. However, acrylic and rayon staple fibers serve as good examples of products that NCTO recommends be removed from the 301 list to avoid undue harm to U.S. manufacturers. These fibers are not produced in the United States and their unavailability is reflected in the rules of origin of our more recent free trade agreements as well as in the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB) pending in Congress.
Raising the production costs for these inputs will only undercut U.S. competitiveness for manufacturers that utilize them without bolstering U.S. producers, of which none exist. Further, yarn and fabric producers in China and other countries will not face these added costs, thus simultaneously placing U.S. producers at a significant disadvantage while providing a loophole for Chinese fibers to enter the U.S. market in the form of a downstream product.
Beyond the traditional textile chapters, NCTO recommends removal of certain chemicals, dyes and finishes that are integral to the textile manufacturing process and create value add in U.S. products. Our members report that many of these products are largely unavailable from U.S. sources, particularly in the quantities consumed, and thus the increased raw material costs will damage downstream domestic manufacturing competitiveness. Again, a list of specific tariff lines will be provided.
Last, we are concerned that while textile machinery was largely removed from the initial $50 billion list, additional lines have been proposed on this list. NCTO continues to strongly recommend the removal of all machinery-related items as U.S. textile companies are almost entirely dependent on imports to equip their factories.
Thank you again for the opportunity to appear today. NCTO looks forward to working with the Trump administration on ways to maximize the benefit of Section 301 tariffs to American industry and workers, and I would be pleased to answer any questions.
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