AMTAC plays down CAFTA, says Chinese textile surge to remain

23 Jun '05

3 min read

U.S. imports of textiles and clothing from China continued to surge in April. For the first four months of this year, China's exports are up by 1.46 billion square meters (SME) equivalent.

“China has managed to double their share of the U.S. apparel import market in the first four months of 2005 compared to the same time period in 2004,” said American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition (AMTAC) Executive Director Auggie Tantillo.

“This surge demonstrates why the U.S. government rightly has imposed safeguards on seven categories of Chinese textile and apparel imports. It is also why it is imperative for the U.S. government to approve quickly as possible all outstanding safeguard cases and the additional safeguard cases the U.S. textile industry intends to file in the near future,” Tantillo continued.

China's surge also demonstrates why a broad segment of the U.S. textile industry, including AMTAC, the National Textile Association, The Domestic Manufacturers Committee of The Hosiery Association, and the labor union UNITE HERE, opposes the proposed Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). “China's unfair trade practices make it impossible for any other country to compete. China is just as capable of taking away market share from CAFTA countries as they are the United States. Outsourcing the U.S. textile industry to Central America will not solve the problem,” remarked Tantillo.

Looking at what has happened under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI), for categories released from quota in 2002, exports from Mexico dropped from 85 million square meters to 40 million square meters. Mexican market share declined from 8 percent in 2001 to 2 percent in Nov. 2004. Caribbean and Central American countries exports dropped from 113 million to 68 million square meters, and CBI market share declined from 10 percent to 3 percent. And the Chinese gained the market share lost by all other countries.

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