The National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) applauded the announcement of the reintroduction of the Textile Enforcement and Security Act (TESA). On October 24th, U.S. Senator Kay Hagan toured the Nonwovens Institute at North Carolina State University and announced the reintroduction of the bill which seeks to increase U.S. Customs and Border Protection enforcement activities as well as trade facilitation through improved targeting, increased resources, and enhanced authority.
"We applaud Senators Kay Hagan (D-NC) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) for taking the lead on this crucial issue. Strong enforcement of our trade laws is imperative to the preservation of the over 500,000 U.S. jobs which rely on the domestic textile and apparel industry. Proper enforcement of our agreements and trade obligations is a basic necessity, not a luxury in regard to U.S trade policy. Legislation such as TESA will help ensure that U.S. workers and manufacturers have an opportunity to fairly compete in markets both at home and abroad," said NCTO President Auggie Tantillo.
Joining Sen. Hagan at the announcement, NCTO Board Member Jim Chesnutt, Chairman, President, and CEO of National Spinning in Washington, NC, endorsed the bill by stating "This important legislation gives U.S. Customs and Border Protection the resources it needs to better enforce the rules that govern textiles in our free trade agreements.Not only would this bill ensure that we have more and better trained import specialists at our ports of entry, but it would also create important programs for tracking textile inputs and the potential bad actors who would skirt our laws and hurt American workers."
The TESA legislation addresses many of the industry's key concerns by providing U.S. Customs with expanded authority to better target fraudulent textile and apparel goods coming into the U.S., while also giving them additional tools and resources to increase their commercial enforcement efforts and reduce the prevalence of fraud that creates an uneven playing field for the U.S. textile industry.
