“With the 18th Round of Trans-Pacific Partnership trade negotiations now underway in Malaysia, the timing of the hearing, and opportunity for Ways & Means Committee Members to seek clear, unambiguous answers from the USTR on President Obama’s trade policy agenda, could not be more appropriate,” Cass Johnson President of the National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) stated.
“Given the vital role of this agreement in sustaining American jobs and bolstering our national economy, NCTO believes that trade negotiators must remain committed to supporting standard provisions that have made previous U.S. free trade agreements successful for all parties; including the ‘yarn forward’ rule of origin, reasonable tariff reduction formulas that provide stability for domestic manufacturers, and a short supply list supported by U.S. textile industry experts.
"As more than 167 members of Congress have already made clear, anything less than full support of these principles by the Obama Administration and Ambassador Froman will undermine fair trade principles in the Trans-Pacific Partnership and further serve to threaten hundreds of thousands of U.S. textile jobs, and over a million more in the Western Hemisphere,” Johnson said.
Just last week, congressional leaders released a letter backed by NCTO to the United States Trade Representative (USTR) signed by 167 members of the U.S. House of Representatives – it includes 10 members of the House Ways & Means Committee. The letter calls for strong textile rules, including the “Yarn Forward” rule of origin and long tariff phase-outs for sensitive products to be included in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement currently being negotiated by the United States and 11 other nations.
“The USTR’s continued support of the ‘yarn forward’ rule and other strong textile provisions, including long tariff phase-outs, in this and future rounds of TPP negotiations will ensure that third parties, such as China, do not take advantage of the final agreement, and send a clear message that the United States is committed to a strong textile manufacturing sector at home, across the western hemisphere and in Africa,” Johnson concluded.
The House Ways & Means Committee is slated to convene a hearing to discuss President Obama’s trade policy agenda with USTR Froman on Thursday, July 18th at 9:00 a.m. ET. The hearing will take place in Room 1100 in the Longworth House Office Building.
The National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO), headquartered in Washington, DC with an office in Gastonia, NC, is the national trade association representing the entire spectrum of the textile sector.
