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Specialty fabrics industry loses as Congress passes KORUS FTA
15 Oct '11
4 min read
Stephens warns that many companies participating in this supply chain also support the military needs of our warfighters. Their ability to innovate and responsively supply the military is dependent on an overall healthy domestic market and industry.
"A likely decline in U.S. textile output because of increased Korean market penetration almost certainly means the loss of U.S. textile jobs," she says. "Textile job skill sets are not easily transferred to segments such as agriculture which might see a slight gain because of the agreement."
Stephens also notes that the U.S. International Trade Commission admits that U.S. textile production is expected to decline as a result of the KORUS agreement. USIFI and other industry associations predict that more than 10,000 U.S. textile and apparel manufacturing jobs will be lost in the first seven years after implementation as result of flaws in the textile chapter of KORUS.
Because U.S. government figures show that approximately three additional jobs are lost to the U.S. economy for each textile job that is eliminated, the total estimated job loss climbs to nearly 40,000. It is also important to note that these figures do not account for job losses as a result of a likely surge in illegal Chinese transshipments via South Korea, which are expected to be significant.
Specialty fabrics is a segment of the domestic textile manufacturing base that has not only survived decades of bad trade policies and relentless import pressures but which, though continuous technical innovation, has grown and competed in the world marketplace--until now.
Says Stephens, "Until we address the issue of border taxes (VATs), we will never have true free trade....every other major country in the world uses border adjusted taxes, usually in concert with duty rates (as the duty revenue goes down, the VAT goes up to compensate). As one of our members says, 'We're playing checkers, and everyone else is playing chess.'"
"A likely decline in U.S. textile output because of increased Korean market penetration almost certainly means the loss of U.S. textile jobs," she says. "Textile job skill sets are not easily transferred to segments such as agriculture which might see a slight gain because of the agreement."
Stephens also notes that the U.S. International Trade Commission admits that U.S. textile production is expected to decline as a result of the KORUS agreement. USIFI and other industry associations predict that more than 10,000 U.S. textile and apparel manufacturing jobs will be lost in the first seven years after implementation as result of flaws in the textile chapter of KORUS.
Because U.S. government figures show that approximately three additional jobs are lost to the U.S. economy for each textile job that is eliminated, the total estimated job loss climbs to nearly 40,000. It is also important to note that these figures do not account for job losses as a result of a likely surge in illegal Chinese transshipments via South Korea, which are expected to be significant.
Specialty fabrics is a segment of the domestic textile manufacturing base that has not only survived decades of bad trade policies and relentless import pressures but which, though continuous technical innovation, has grown and competed in the world marketplace--until now.
Says Stephens, "Until we address the issue of border taxes (VATs), we will never have true free trade....every other major country in the world uses border adjusted taxes, usually in concert with duty rates (as the duty revenue goes down, the VAT goes up to compensate). As one of our members says, 'We're playing checkers, and everyone else is playing chess.'"
Industrial Fabrics Association International
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