US textile, apparel and fiber producing trade associations announced the filing of four safeguard petitions covering eight categories to limit the growth of US textile and apparel imports from China on Monday, July 11.
The industry also announced that it had refiled a petition on curtains on June 22 that the US government rejected for technical reasons on June 21.
Click to view Petitions filed for US safeguards:
The China Year to Date Increase for the shirt, skirt, and pajamas/nightwear categories was taken from US Office of Textiles and Apparel preliminary data on July 6, 2005. The data from these categories covers imports through the end of June 2005. The data for the swimwear and drapes/curtains covers imports through the end of April 2005.
Combined US imports in the 10 categories covered by the July 11 announcement totaled $6.4 billion in 2004, with imports from China accounting for $944 million.
The value of the Chinese imports covered by the petitions account for 5.3 percent of the $17.8 billion in textile and apparel imports from China and 1.05 percent of the $89.7 billion in imports from the world (including China) in 2004.
In terms of the $196.7 billion in US imports of all goods from China in 2004, these petitions affect only about 0.48 percent of that trade.
Trade Association/Labor Union Comments
Karl Spilhaus, President of the National Textile Association, said, "We're filing these petitions because of the extreme disruption in the American textile industry caused by an unprecedented of flood of imports from China."
"The special textile China safeguards contained in China's accession agreement to the WTO give the U.S. government the right to invoke safeguards if the US market is threatened with disruption that will impede the orderly development of trade. The US textile industry is simply asking the US government to act within the rights granted to it by China's accession agreement to the WTO," observed Spilhaus.
American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition (AMTAC) Executive Director Auggie Tantillo said, "While the filings of only five petitions were announced today, more petitions will be filed later this year.
"The US textile industry will keep filing petitions until the United States and China reach a comprehensive agreement to moderate the growth of Chinese textile and apparel imports to a reasonable level through the end of 2008," Tantillo continued.
"The US textile industry appreciates the Bush Administration's approval of seven safeguards in 2005. Damage, however, is occurring in other categories too. That's why the US textile industry has six petitions due for decision later this summer. It is also why we were forced to file these additional petitions," remarked Cass Johnson, President of the National Council ofTextile Organizations.
"China's export surge in these categories released from quota on January 1, 2005 is directly attributable to the illegal and unfair subsidies given to their producers in an effort to drive all other competitors out of the market. These subsidies include illegal currency manipulation, non-performing loans, state-owned enterprises, reduced or free utilities, shipping, and property taxes, free land and factories, and export tax rebates. No industry playing by free-market rules can compete with an industry allowed to sell into a free-market but not play by free-market rules," Johnson concluded.
UNITE HERE President Bruce Raynor stressed, "Since quotas have expired on January 1, 2005, 142 apparel and textile workers have lost their jobs every single day. The crisis is now. If safeguards aren't implemented immediately, more plants will close and thousands of workers will be without a job."
Facts on Imports, Jobs, and the Safeguard Process
Press conference participants noted that data on which the safeguard filings are based simply confirms long established trends such as:
In the first five months of the year, all US textile and apparel imports from China increased by 64 percent.
China's share of the US import market in the apparel categories released from quota on January 1, 2002 jumped from less than 10 percent to more than 70 percent in less than three years.
According to Chinese Customs data, as of May 2005, China's textile and apparel exports to the United States are up 85 percent year to date by value.
